Derek Shelton believes every step of his coaching career prepared him to become the Pittsburgh Pirates manager, from serving as Tampa’s hitting coach to Toronto’s quality control coach to Minnesota’s bench coach.
The only exception for Shelton is his background was strictly with American League teams, so he’s expecting an adjustment to serving as a skipper in the National League.
The obvious difference is the AL uses designated pitchers whereas the NL forces them to hit. Shelton already has been warned how he handles pitching will be his greatest challenge, especially when it comes to the bullpen.
“I’ve started the process of talking to guys that have managed in the National League,” Shelton said. “It’s funny that when you start to talk to guys — and I’ve talked to three guys that I respect a ton — the first thing out of their mouth is the exact same thing. You start to realize that there’s some consistency to it.
“The one thing is, there will be somebody on our staff that has been in the National League, so there’s somebody to bounce ideas off of. But the more I talk to people about it in the game, the more they come up with consistent things, so it’s helping me stay ahead of those pitfalls, I think.”
Shelton addressed his NL inexperience by keeping a pair of holdovers from Clint Hurdle’s staff, retaining Joey Cora as third-base coach and Rick Eckstein as hitting coach.
Perhaps his most important move, however, was hiring Don Kelly as his bench coach. A Butler native who played at Mt. Lebanon and Point Park, Kelly is a former utility player who has been in both leagues.
Known for his high baseball IQ and positive approach, Kelly played for Pirates, the Detroit Tigers and Miami Marlins, then spent two years as a scout for the Tigers and was the first-base coach for the Houston Astros this season.
New Pirates general manager Ben Cherington also has spent the entirety of his major league career in the American League, working for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. He has had discussions with Shelton on their adjustments.
“There are some differences in the playing style,” Cherington said. “We’ve started talking about, ‘How can we help each other with that? What other inputs do we need to have to be clear on what those differences are, whether it’s in player decisions this offseason or as we get to spring training in terms of deployment and planning?’
“We’re both aware of that: that we both need some additional input and help to really get clear on that. But I think less about American League and National League and more about the process of getting better, of collaborating toward good decisions, of hiring great people and putting players in the best positions to succeed.”
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