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Derek Shelton named new Twins manager
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- Derek Shelton named new Twins manager
The post Derek Shelton named new Twins manager appeared first on ClutchPoints .
The Minnesota Twins have reportedly hired a new manager following another non-playoff season . On Wednesday, reports surfaced that the American League Central club has landed on Derek Shelton as the team's new skipper , according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post.
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Before this latest career move, Shelton spent years as the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2020 to 2025. In Minnesota , Shelton succeeds Rocco Baldelli, who had managed the Twins from 2019 up to the 2025 campaign.
The Pirates finished the 2025 season with just a 70-92 record to finish just fourth in the AL Central Division and miss the MLB postseason for the second year in a row. Shelton was fired in May after the Pirates went on a seven-game losing skid for a 12-26 start to the season.
Shelton's takeover of the Twins in the dugout comes less than a month after the firing of Baldelli , who steered Minnesota to three division titles, including a couple in each of his first two years on the job. But Minnesota felt it was time to move on from Baldelli after back-to-back campaigns, where the Twins mustered just a total of 152 wins and missed the playoffs each time.
The Twins entered the 2025 season with many believing Minnesota would be a chief contender for the division title, but the club struggled to win games, leading to a decision to become sellers at the trade deadline, before which they let go of 10 players in order to save up nearly $30 million in salary.
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Shelton isn't also a new face for the Twins. Before getting named as the Pirates manager in 2019, he spent a couple of seasons as a bench coach for Minnesota, so he can be expected to adjust smoothly into his new environment. He's also transitioning to a franchise whose fate in the last two seasons isn't much different than that of Pittsburgh.
With the Pirates, Shelton navigated Pittsburgh to a total of 306 wins against 440 losses for just a .410 win percentage. The Pirates never qualified for the playoffs during his entire tenure as the team's manager, as Pittsburgh also never finished better than fourth in a season over that stretch.
