The Pirates are off to their best start in the last 31 years, and the man overseeing the lineup is sticking around for the foreseeable future.
Derek Shelton has received a contract extension beyond the 2023 season, general manager Ben Cherington confirmed Saturday.
Details of the extension were not revealed by Cherington.
Shelton’s time in Pittsburgh, until the first 21 games of this season, has been a rocky one, and much of that has seemingly been beyond his control.
His first season, 2020, was a 60-game year due to restrictions from the covid-19 pandemic. They team finished 19-41, the fifth-worst winning percentage season in club history and worst in nearly 70 years.
After that, the Pirates began a complete tear down of the organization, ushering out older, unproductive players and replacing them with younger, more sustainable talent.
Shelton’s Pirates went 61-101 in 2021 and 62-100 last season, as the 52-year-old manager nightly pencilled in lineups full of unproven MLB commodities.
But now, the Pirates enter Saturday night’s game against the Reds having won five straight — the longest win streak in baseball — and with a record of 14-7 overall.
"We've working really hard over three years," Shelton said Saturday. "We've made some difficult trades, we've acquired some people, we've taken some lumps... so the fact that, organizationally, the commitment to how we've gone about the plan that (Cherington) put in place four years ago is working.
Offensively, the team ranks sixth in baseball in RBI, seventh in OPS and third in stolen bases. On the mound, Pittsburgh has linked together ten straight quality starts from its pitching staff.
"We need to focus every day to get better and that's what we're doing," said Shelton, who is 156-249 since joining the Pirates. "We've seen players get better, we've seen players come through our system. We've acquired veteran players the year. The faith in what we're doing and how we're doing it is important."
The Pirates look to win their series with Cincinnati Saturday night. Pregame coverage begins with the North Shore Tavern Leadoff Show at 5:30 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.