Derek Shelton Managing Twins Pitchers Different Than His Predecessor
One of the most common refrains during the Rocco Baldelli era was hand-wringing over how he handled the Minnesota Twins pitching staff.
At times during his seven-season tenure as manager, Rocco Baldelli didn’t always have the personnel to pitch starters deep into games. And especially the last couple seasons, they had one of the better bullpens in baseball.
Fast forward to where we are now and the circumstances could not be more different. First-year manager Derek Shelton now deploys a Twins bullpen that is a shell of what it once was.
And while the starting rotation certainly isn’t as loaded as we hoped it would be, following Pablo Lopez’ torn UCL, there’s no question it remains the strength of Minnesota’s pitching staff.
Minnesota Twins starters on an extended leash under Derek Shelton?
Still, watching how Derek Shelton has managed the rotation and bullpen so far has been somewhat of a culture shock, after the quick hooks we got used to under Baldelli.
The latest example came on Thursday. In his 13th career start, Mick Abel ran into turbulence throughout his outing against the Detroit Tigers. Nonetheless, he calmly worked out of his jams and finished with 6.0 innings of work, 4 hits allowed, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts.
Mick Abel's 2Ks in the 1st pic.twitter.com/nsrh4bwGcR
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 9, 2026
In the sixth inning, however, following his third walk of the day, Shelton walked out of the dugout, signaling the likely end of Abel’s outing… or so we thought.
But Shelton had a different plan, and walked to the mound with a somewhat open mind. From there, he let his new catcher Victor Caratini and his young flamethrowing pitcher do most of the talking.
Shelton allows MN Twins players to make call on Abel
When the one-sided conversation was finished, the Twins’ first-year skipper walked back to the dugout without motioning to the bullpen and with the ball still in his 24-year-old starter‘s right hand.
And alas, the youngster rewarded Shelton’s trust by getting out of the jam on two ground balls. After the game, Minnesota’s manager described the mound visit to reporters gathered around his desk in his office at Target Field.
“Caratini was yelling at me the whole time to leave him in. That’s what you love about veteran catchers. I purposely walked out with Vic. I was like, ‘Where you at?’ And he was like, ‘Keep him in.’ And then I went out, and Mick’s first reaction to me was very clear that he wanted to stay in.”
Derek Shelton (via The Athletic)
This isn’t the first time Derek Shelton has shown patience and trust in his starting pitchers that his friend and predecessor, Rocco Baldelli, did not.
When Simeon Woods Richardson was on the bump during the Twins’ first home series of the season, against Tampa Bay, Shelton made a mound visit to his 25-year-old pitcher, before again walking back to the dugout with SWR still in the game.
Shelton experimenting with MN Twins pitching plan
On average so far this season, the Minnesota Twins’ new manager has allowed his starters to make 89 pitches per outing — up five through the first 13 games from 2025.
Even more noteworthy, Shelton has allowed a Twins starter to cross the 100-pitch threshold FOUR times already this season. Under Baldelli last year, that had happened just once in the first baker’s dozen games.
Related: MN Twins Completely Dominating MLB Umpires
So far, with a 7-6 record, things are going alright for the Minnesota Twins. How much of that has to do with Derek Shelton is still very much up for debate… and there’s still a lot of season left.
But at least for now, his management style is certainly more different from his predecessor… and the returns are better than expected.
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