The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced the firing of manager Derek Shelton amidst a 7 game losing streak which has them in last place in the NL Central, and 3rd to last across all of baseball.
“Derek worked incredibly hard and sacrificed a lot over five-plus years. His family became a big part of the Pirates family, and we will miss that,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said in a statement. “He’s an incredibly smart, curious, and driven baseball leader. I believe he was the right person for the job when he was hired. I also believe that a change is now necessary. I wish Derek and his family all the best in their next chapter.”
The 54 year old skipper becomes the first manager to be fired in 2025 as the Pirates, 12-26, have struggled mightily to generate offence this season. The team ranks dead last in runs per game at 3.11, trailing even the lowly Colorado Rockies, who are on pace to win just 33 games this year.
“Derek is a good man who did a lot for the Pirates and Pittsburgh, but it was time for a change,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in a statement. “The first quarter of the season has been frustrating and painful for all of us. We have to do better. I know that. Ben knows that. Our coaches know that. Our players know that.”
“There is a lot of baseball left to be played. We need to act with a sense of urgency and take the steps necessary to fix this now to get back on track as a team and organization.”
Shelton’s firing, just 38 games in, is the 4th fastest in Major League Baseball to start a season over the past 15 years. The front office did the veteran manager few favours over the offseason, investing very little into proven MLB talent for their lineup. Instead, the club focused on overhauling their scouting department and retooling their assistants, including adding a new hitting coach.
With no offensive reinforcements, and a new hitting philosophy in place, the results have been disappointing to say the least. In addition to their inability to score runs, the club ranks near the bottom of multiple offensive categories across the majors.
Their OPS is 29th in the league, they’ve struggled to hit home runs (28th) or for average (27th) with the team scoring a total of five runs over their past five games while getting shut out twice.
Bench coach Don Kelly will take over for Shelton as Pittsburgh has Thursday off, before opening up a 3 game home stand against the visiting Atlanta Braves on Friday.
Photo: Britt Reints. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.