Derek Shelton

Derek Lee Shelton

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.
• School Southern Illinois University
• High School Warren Township High School

• Born July 30, 1970 in Carbondale, IL USA

BR Manager page

Biographical Information

Catcher Derek Shelton played two seasons in the New York Yankees organization before an elbow injury ended his career. After his playing career, he spent several years as a minor league coach and manager in the Yankees organization. He was the hitting coach for the GCL Yankees in 1997. He started 1998 as the hitting coach for the Greensboro Bats and returned to the GCL Yankees in June when their season was beginning. He was promoted to Tampa Yankees hitting coach for 1999. Switching to managing, Shelton managed the GCL Yankees in 2000 and 2001 and the Staten Island Yankees in 2002, winning league championships in the latter two seasons.

He joined the Cleveland Indians organization in 2003 as a minor league hitting coordinator. On June 4, 2005 he replaced Hall of Famer Eddie Murray as hitting coach on an interim basis. The interim tag was removed after the season and Shelton served in that role through 2009. He joined the Tampa Bay Rays staff in 2010 in the same position. He stayed until September 6, 2016 when the Rays fired him in favor of Chad Mottola because the team felt it needed a "new voice". In 2017, he moved to the Toronto Blue Jays as a quality control coach, then in 2018, he became the bench coach of the Minnesota Twins.

On November 27, 2019 he was named manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2020 [1]. It was the last open managerial vacancy in the majors, as the Pirates' search for a replacement for Clint Hurdle, who had been fired before the final game of the 2019 season, had been delayed by the firing of GM Neal Huntington that followed a few weeks later. The Pirates had to wait for the installation of new GM Ben Cherington to resume the search process for a new field leader. While the Pirates never finished higher than fourth in Shelton's first three seasons, such reasons had been largely expected as his role was to lead a rebuilding squad and hep young players to develop. With the team off to a good start in the first few weeks of the 2023 season, the Pirates announced that his contract had been extended beyond this season, which was originally his final one.

He is the son of Ron Shelton, who was a minor league pitcher for two seasons. His father was a teammate of the other, now better-known, Ron Shelton, the future film-maker, with the Bluefield Orioles in 1968.

Preceded by Clint Hurdle

Pittsburgh Pirates Manager 2020-

Succeeded by current

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2000	GCL Yankees	Gulf Coast League	38-22	1st	New York Yankees	Lost League Finals
2001	GCL Yankees	Gulf Coast League	35-25	4th	New York Yankees	League Champs
2002	Staten Island Yankees	New York-Penn League	48-26	1st	New York Yankees	League Champs
2020	Pittsburgh Pirates	National League	19-41	5th	Pittsburgh Pirates
2021	Pittsburgh Pirates	National League	61-101	5th	Pittsburgh Pirates
2022	Pittsburgh Pirates	National League	62-100	4th (t)	Pittsburgh Pirates
2023	Pittsburgh Pirates	National League	76-86	4th	Pittsburgh Pirates
2024	Pittsburgh Pirates	National League	76-86	5th	Pittsburgh Pirates

Further Reading

• Associated Press: "Pirates manager Shelton bringing energy, optimism to new job", USA Today, December 4, 2019. [2]
• Justice delos Santos: "Pirates extend manager Shelton: 'He's the right guy to lead us'", mlb.com, April 23, 2023. [3]
• Sweeny Murty: "Shelton name intertwined in baseball -- and film -- history", mlb.com, June 16, 2023. [4]

Related Sites

• BR Minors page