Former Guardians coach suffers predictable fate amid Pirates' spiral

It has been a rough start to the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with their 12-26 record being among the worst in baseball. As a result, former Cleveland hitting coach Derek Shelton has been relieved of his managing duties by the Pirates, with Don Kelly stepping into his now former position.

Shelton's record during his six seasons in Pittsburgh was 306-440, with the Pirates never finishing with a winning record during that span. Back-to-back 76-86 seasons in 2023 and 2024 were viewed as a good starting point for what the future of the franchise could look like, but their stumble out of the gate in 2025 was clearly viewed as unacceptable for a team that was at least be in the postseason conversation later in the season.

The Pirates did not do themselves any favors with this early season performance, and if they were to miss out on qualifying for the playoffs by a small margin, their failure to play winning baseball right now could be considered the reason why. As the saying goes, a team cannot win a division in April, but they can certainly lose it. It's far too early to say anything with 100% certainty, as there is still a ton of baseball to be played, but trailing the Chicago Cubs by 10 games entering play on Thursday, May 8th, is not a great spot to be in if we're being honest here.

The now-former Pirates manager began his coaching career in 2003 as the minor league hitting coordinator in Cleveland before taking over for Eddie Murray during the 2005 season as the major league hitting coach. Shelton would remain in Cleveland until 2009 when he left for the Tampa Bay Rays. After being let go by Tampa Bay after the 2016 season, Shelton would take on coaching roles with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2017 and Minnesota Twins in 2018 before being hired as the manager of the Pirates before the 2020 season.