PITTSBURGH — Derek Shelton sat on the bench in the visitor’s dugout at PNC Park hours before Friday’s game and was greeted by a horde of local reporters standing in a semi-circle around him ready to take him down memory lane.
Though his time in Pittsburgh came to a close last May — fired during the middle of his sixth season as manager of the Pirates — the first-year Twins manager spoke positively about his time in Pittsburgh.
“There’s a lot of good feelings — the first opportunity to manage, a lot of friendships, a lot of people that I care about,” Shelton said. “There’s a lot of good thoughts.”
Shelton, hired after serving as the Twins’ bench coach in 2018-19, took over as the Pirates’ manager ahead of the 2020 season, enduring a pandemic-shortened first season unlike any other.
The Pirates consistently carried one of the lowest payrolls in the league during his time in Pittsburgh, and after five seasons and change, he was dismissed, going 306-440 (.410) during his tenure.
“I wish it would’ve went differently, obviously,” Shelton said. “I think there’s a lot of factors that come into play there and some of them are out of my control. But to look back on it, I will never look back on it in a negative connotation.”
The midseason firing did give him a chance to dabble on the media side of things, which he said helped get his love for the game back. It also gave him plenty of time to think about what he might do differently if he was given the chance to manage again.
There were some things he wished he had done differently, he said, particularly the “ability to listen,” and “the attention to detail.” The attention that Shelton pays to detail is something first baseman Josh Bell, who was with Shelton in Pittsburgh in 2020, pointed out as one of Shelton’s strong suits.
“I feel like he’s the same guy in the clubhouse. He wants you to feel comfortable. He wants us to get after it,” Bell said. “I think there is a lot more attention to detail in between the lines in the work day, just preparation and stuff like that. I think he’s doing a great job. I don’t think we could ask for anything more.”
While a number of managers were fired after the 2025 season — including Rocco Baldelli, the Twins’ longtime manager — Shelton was the only one who ended up back in a dugout immediately.
He returned to Pittsburgh with the Twins sitting at 27-30, third place in their division and outpacing many outside expectations. On the other side, the Pirates entered the three-game series a game above .500, with a team OPS and ERA that both sat top 10 in the majors.
Asked if he wished the 2026 version of the Pirates had arrived earlier, Shelton said he couldn’t live in a speculative world.
“You could go back and say ‘If this would have happened and this would have happened,’” Shelton said. “Everything happens for a reason and I’m where I should be.”
Rojas lands on IL
A day after being scratched with posterior elbow soreness, the Twins placed rookie left-hander Kendry Rojas on the injured list with left elbow inflammation.
The Twins sent Rojas home from Chicago to the Twin Cities to get an MRI. Shelton said Friday pregame that he did not yet have results back from that.
“I think any time you’re scratching a guy in that situation — and really just he’s 23 years old and left-handed and throws 97 — we’re going to make sure that he’s OK,” Shelton said.
The Twins also optioned Travis Adams, who had pitched in consecutive games in Chicago, to Triple-A. To fill their spots on the roster, the Twins called up Kody Funderburk and returned Cody Laweryson, who had been dealing with a forearm issue, from his rehab assignment and reinstated him from the injured list.
Briefly
Byron Buxton, who has been limited to DHing in recent days, threw on Friday for the first time during defensive drills, Shelton said. Buxton jammed his shoulder on a slide in Boston last weekend. … Kody Clemens, who started in center field for the first time in his professional career on Wednesday, was back there Friday. … Bailey Ober (6-2, 3.92 ERA) is scheduled to start on Saturday in a game set to begin at 3:05 p.m. CDT. He will be opposed by Mitch Keller (5-2, 3.64).