In between time spent watching his teenage daughter’s volleyball matches and appearing on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio’s show “Loud Outs,” new Twins manager Derek Shelton had plenty of time to reflect last summer.
At home in Florida after being fired as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in May, Shelton had more free time in front of him than he had in decades. That left him plenty of time to analyze what went wrong, besides the obvious — a payroll that is always near the lowest in the league makes Pittsburgh a tough place to win — and what he might do differently if he got the opportunity to manage again.
This is a 2026 photo of Derek Shelton of the Minnesota Twins baseball team. This image reflects the Minnesota Twins active roster as of Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026 when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
One of the things he landed on was communication; not just delivering a message and expecting that it was understood, but having follow-up conversations and making sure that the ideas he delivered were received in the way he intended.
“It’s something that I don’t think I did a great job of last year, and probably at the end of ’24, and want to make sure I do a better job of personally as a leader going forward,” Shelton said.
That often means asking a player what he heard in those conversations, to make sure he understood and could relay it back. Early feedback from the Twins’ clubhouse has been positive in that respect. Asked about Shelton, multiple players first lauded his ability to communicate as a major strength.
Days after landing the new job, Shelton flew to Texas to meet with third baseman Royce Lewis at a barbecue restaurant. Lewis left their meeting feeling energized.
“I’m ready to run through a wall for him, man, literally and figuratively,” he said. “I think I’m just excited. He brings some positive vibes,” Lewis said. “… Even when guys were signing in the offseason, he’s calling other guys saying like, ‘Hey, this doesn’t change how we view you.’ And that’s so important. It’s stuff we’re not used to.”
On the end of one of those calls was catcher Ryan Jeffers, whom Shelton phoned hours before the Twins signed veteran catcher Victor Caratini to a two-year deal in January. Shelton wanted to talk through the move with Jeffers and discuss how it would affect him. He also met with Jeffers in person this offseason around Thanksgiving in North Carolina.
“I told Shelty when he called, ‘I really appreciate the transparency that’s been there,’” Jeffers said. “It’s better to be truthful and say something you don’t like than to have questions floating in the air. Everyone would rather be told something they don’t want to hear than not be told anything at all.”
That communication style was one of the reasons veteran reliever Taylor Rogers was hoping to reunite with Shelton when he was going through free agency this offseason. Shelton was the Twins’ bench coach in 2018-19 when the southpaw was in his first stint with the Twins, and Rogers valued Shelton’s demeanor and competitive spirit.
He also said he enjoyed the way Shelton viewed the game, the conversations they had and how straight-to-the-point he can be.
“If you have to give somebody constructive criticism, a lot of times you’re going to get a really long answer,” Rogers said. “You give them two positives and a negative. He’s like, ‘I’m going to skip the positives because we’re all going to lose our train of thought so I’m just going to hit you with it and we’re all going to move on.’ … There’s less fluff, and you know where you stand.”
As camp started, Shelton held one-on-one meetings with each player in the clubhouse.
One part of the meetings was clearly stating to each player where the organization sees them; some are on the roster, some are competing for a spot, others are there to learn from the veterans and get valuable experience before heading back to the minor leagues to begin their season.
The other component of those meetings was getting to know them personally. Do they have a significant other? Kids? Hobbies? What makes them tick?
“I hope that players feel they’re comfortable being able to have conversations with me and that we can talk about things not only baseball-related, because I think that’s how you develop relationships,” Shelton said.
That desire to “understand who you are” and build relationships is something center fielder Byron Buxton remembers fondly of Shelton from his tenure as the Twins’ bench coach. And as a result, the two remained connected even as Shelton left the Twins to manage the Pirates ahead of the 2020 season.
“He tries to engage himself, and it’s one of them where when you try to engage yourself, you start figuring out a little more about your players, you start figuring out more of what goes on in their life, situations, communication,” Buxton said. “The only way for you to know that, you’ve got to communicate with your players. So, I think he does a great job of that. It’s something that will take us a little further than what we have in the past.”
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