The Minnesota Twins picked former bench coach Derek Shelton, who managed the Pittsburgh Pirates for five-plus years, as their new manager, and introduced him at a press conference Tuesday afternoon at Target Field.
Shelton quickly leaned into the positive, and said good things are coming.
“There are better things ahead," Shelton told the media Tuesday afternoon. "We’re going to build strong relationships and we’re going to have a lot of fun as we move forward. I think people are going to be excited about Twins baseball.”
Shelton had an overall record of 306-440 with the Pirates before he was fired on May 8, just 40 games into this season. The 55-year-old was the bench coach for the Twins in 2018 and 2019 under two different managers, Paul Molitor and Rocco Baldelli. With the under-funded Pirates, Shelton never finished higher than fourth place in the NL Central or better than 76-86.
"I promise you from not only that, but from the six years of managing in Pittsburgh, I learned a lot and I learned about myself and will grow and move forward," Shelton explained. "I don't take this for granted. There's only 30 of these positions, and they're extremely special."
Regardless of who is on the roster come spring, one thing is clear. Shelton wants to focus on fundamentals.
"There is no thing that's too small, and I think at times we get away from that a little bit in the game," he adds. "But when you're able to sit back and watch the game and reflect on it and you're not in the moment, it's really easy to realize that that's where the focus should be."
Shelton will be the 15th manager of the Twins, who began in 1961 after the franchise moved from Washington, but he's the first hire in their history with previous experience as a major league manager. Shelton, a native of Carbondale, Illinois, began his professional coaching career in 1997 in the New York Yankees farm system he played two seasons in. He had major league jobs on staffs with Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Toronto, with a total of 12 seasons as a hitting coach.
Baldelli was fired the day after the regular season ended with a 527-505 record over seven years, plus 3-8 in the postseason. The Twins won three AL Central titles under Baldelli, including their 101-61 finish in 2019 when the rookie skipper won the AL Manager of the Year award, but they made the playoffs only once in his last five seasons and frequently struggled to shepherd their top prospects into becoming consistent contributors.
Shelton, who was well-regarded within the Twins organization and a close friend to Baldelli, will take over a team that spiraled to a 70-92 finish after the front office decided to use the leverage of the deadline to maximize the incoming talent and traded 10 players off the major league roster in a stunningly aggressive teardown.
The Twins traded their five best relievers, from closer Jhoan Duran on down, and left the final 54 games to a ragtag group that had eight blown saves in 18 opportunities during that span. The conversion rate of 44.4% ranked second-worst in the majors over the final two months.
The Twins are 82-119 over their last 201 games for a .408 winning percentage, and that includes a 13-game winning streak this season.
Attendance has swooned at Target Field. The Twins finished with their lowest total for 81 home games (a little more than 1.7 million tickets sold) in a non-pandemic season since 2000 when they played at the cramped and dingy Metrodome and went 69-93.
Shelton offered up a direct message to fans who decided not to come to Target Field in 2025, and how they can reinvest themselves in this team.
"The biggest thing that I would say to them is every night they come out to the ballpark, you're going to see a team that competes, that fights, that is gritty, that's gonna run the bases the right way," Shelton noted. "It's gonna do those small little things and I know from my time in this division a long time ago, Twins fans really appreciate those things."
Fans mostly have directed their disdain toward ownership, with deep frustration over cost cutting that came after the 2023 breakthrough Baldelli led with the end of a record 18-game postseason losing streak and the club's first win of a playoff series in 21 years.
Executive chair Joe Pohlad and his family members put the franchise up for sale in 2024, but decided in August to keep control and bring on two new investment groups for an infusion of cash to help pay down debt.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.