MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 4, 2023

Derek Shelton

Pittsburgh Pirates

Press Conference

Q. You guys lost Oviedo, the pitching situation is what it is. Just from your seat, what can you done or how are you thinking about the pitching going into next season?

DEREK SHELTON: Well, I'm thinking that we're going to need to add, obviously. We ended the year with just two traditional starters. So just trying to fill -- figure out the best way to fill as many innings as possible, especially early in the season.

But, yeah, I think we're going to have to see how the market, not only the trade market bears out but how the free agent market bears out. But we are definitely in a situation where starting pitching is going to be important to us.

Q. Did he not recover postseason the way he was supposed to?

DEREK SHELTON: It was one of those things that just, as this off-season went on, he had this lingering pain, and it was like, when you accumulate the number of innings that he did as a starter, there's going to be some downtime where you don't feel great. Then that continued, and that's when we decided that we're going to have to get this looked at, and that's when we found out what the situation was.

Q. You have a number of interesting prospects in Triple-A and Double A, starting pitching prospects. Do you resist the urge to rush those guys, or could somebody in Spring make the jump?

DEREK SHELTON: I think we have to be very smart. If resist the urge is the nomenclature, I think we have to resist the urge to rush guys before they're ready just because we -- what our need is, we also have to weigh what their need is. We have to make sure that they're ready to come to the Big Leagues.

I think as we have seen with any Major League player, coming to the Big Leagues, it's hard. Just because you're a prospect doesn't mean automatically when you step in you're going to be able to pitch or hit at that level. We have to make sure that we do our due diligence and make sure they're ready.

Q. Where the rotation is right now, does that put more importance on Mitch?

DEREK SHELTON: Mitch taking the next step forward is important for us. Really we saw a major step last year not only physically but mentally. We just need him to keep getting better. It's definitely something that I think we see there's more room for him to grow, and he sees there's more room for him to grow, and that's -- we expect him to take that next step.

Q. Two-part question with Leyland. What was it like witnessing all of that the past little bit and then just what sort of influence has he had on you?

DEREK SHELTON: The first part it's really exciting. I was on a plane yesterday when it happened and got off and I think I opened my Twitter up, and the first picture I saw was me, was a picture of me with the T-shirt of him on with the cigarette in his mouth. Then I actually called Kersh because I was walking with a bunch of people and asked him and he got in.

So unbelievably excited to be in the room, to watch him talk about it was emotional just because of the fact that he's meant a ton to me.

And I think this second part of your question, man, there's no better sounding board. If you're the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, to be able to call Jim Leyland at a moment's notice, to be able to have breakfast and talk through different things that are going on and how to do it, for him to tell me what he thinks I'm doing well and what I'm not doing well. He's very transparent with me, which I really appreciate.

I think one of the things that he pointed out that was really cool is he's not old school because he understands what's going on. He has thoughts and will ask questions about why things happen, but he's always learning, and he'll ask me questions of like why did you do this or why did you not do that, and then he'll tell me what he thinks I did wrong, which is beautiful.

I think he means a ton to me personally because he's someone that is you know filtered in terms of the feedback that he gives me.

Q. How did that relationship get started and what were the emotions when you first got the chance to meet and talk with him?

DEREK SHELTON: It's funny, Steve and I, I told this story the other day, when I first got the job, there was four or five days between when I got the job and when we had the press conference. It kind of broke that I got the job. I kept getting this call from a Detroit number and didn't answer it.

Finally I was at dinner one night and sitting with my wife and some friends, and I may have had a glass of bourbon or two, and I said I'm going to answer this damn call.

And I answered it, it was like this gruff, This is Jim Leyland. Oh, wow. I stood up. He invited me to breakfast the first morning I got to Pittsburgh. Just told me about the city and told me about what the expectations and told me about basically talking to you guys in the city and how it was.

So right from the get-go it was a sounding board. Now it's great because he and Donnie have a close relationship he and Mike have a close relationship. So we're able to -- sometimes it's just he and I having breakfast, sometimes it's three of us, sometimes it's four of us, depending upon -- Patrick joins us a lot.

So to be able to have that I think is really important. I appreciate it. He invested in me, and so that's why today I think is so special for the city of Pittsburgh, because he lives there, and for Jim Leyland.

Q. You're one of the longest-tenured managers now in the National League. Curious what you learned about yourself as you had the job over time.

DEREK SHELTON: Being patient. I got the job and then we had COVID. Then we had the next year with the labor. The thing for me is not wanting to do things too fast. Just being patient, looking back, assessing the situation, continue to get as much information from possible -- as possible from different people. I think that would be the first thing.

Q. What are you most proud of?

DEREK SHELTON: Most proud of the growth that we're making with our players. I think our depth in our organization is something that is better than when we got here. Probably the most part proud of globally is that Ben came in with a plan, and we have never veered off that plan. Sometimes it's been challenging, at times people have questioned it, but we've never veered off like what we do that we think's going to be successful for long-term success in Pittsburgh.

Q. You mentioned talking to Jim as a first-year manager, all the questions you had for him. You're talking to a first-year manager today or even yourself, what kind of advice would you have for a first-year guy?

DEREK SHELTON: First one I said is stay out of the lobby at the Winter Meetings because you're not going to be able to get from point A to point B because everybody's going to stop you.

The second thing, and probably more important, is listen to your staff. It's one of the things Leyland told me right out the get-go: Don't be afraid to admit to things you don't know.

I think in baseball at times we look at the manager as like the person that's all-encompassing. Then you look at other sports and we have specialties, we have in football you have people that are specialty in offense or defense or defensive backs. Hockey, whether it's goaltending or being on defense.

In baseball at times we look at the manager in terms of like, okay, so I think one of the best pieces of advice is that Leyland gave me right off the bat was listen to your staff. They're going to provide insight to you of things that you have not thought about.

And I think going back to the earlier questions, the one thing that I'm really proud of too is the growth of our staff to be able to be in different areas and be able to handle different things.

Q. There's so much young talent throughout the division, just how do you view the division as a whole and kind of collectively where everyone's at?

DEREK SHELTON: The division's getting stronger. You talk about the National League Central, and we had one team that won our division, and we had two teams that were within two games of being in the playoffs. We had a significant win improvement, 14 wins better.

The division's getting better. I think the most important part is your first point, there's a ton of young talent in the division. Just actual young exciting players in our division. I think that's a really cool thing for baseball.

Q. What is it like knowing that going into next year all those division games are -- there's no one that's really not trying to go for it or putting together a good team. What is that like being in your seat knowing all those division games that await you?

DEREK SHELTON: It's going to be more fun. It really is. I think everybody in the division is taking steps forward. The division's getting stronger, the young players have now accumulated at-bats, they have accumulated innings. There's nothing that can replicate Major League at-bats, Major League innings, so the division just continues to get stronger. What you're going to see is a lot of young players, ages 27 down, that are going to start to make significant improvements.

Q. Where do you guys anticipate Henry playing as a primary position this year?

DEREK SHELTON: We're preparing for him to catch. I think that's the way we want to go into the off-season, we want to go into Spring Training that that's the work he's doing right now. So I think it is important. As we've talked about all along, positional flexibility is really important to us. So the fact that Henry can play other positions and Endy can play other positions, all of our players, but we're looking primarily for him to come in and focus on the catching position.

Q. What led to that change? He didn't catch other than, what, two innings or something like that?

DEREK SHELTON: He caught the two innings. I think before he got injured the last time there was some expectation that we were going to have him catch more. Then once he came back from the injury we just decided like, all right, we're going to finish the season strong, we're going to let him play, we're going to let him DH or play in the outfield just to finish the season.

But all intentions were we were going to go into the off-season or even into September and have him catch more, and then the injury kind of derailed that. Then we started to focus on let's work on it this off-season and into next year.

Q. I think there's a lot of perception that the decisions have been taken out of the managers' hands. What is the most important decision you have to make every day?

DEREK SHELTON: Who we use in the bullpen. Honestly, that gets overblown. Again, you'll hear a lot of managers, I've never been given a lineup, I've never been told who to play, do I solicit advice? Yes. Do I solicit advice from Ben? Yeah. Donnie, Kelly, and I seek advice from Oscar and Mike.

So it's not one-sided. There's never been a situation where I've been told you need to use this guy, you need to do this. But the biggest decisions every night are just how you're going to use your bullpen. A lot of that in today's day and age, in any day and age, comes down to availability. You can second-guess why guys are not used, well, maybe that guy is not available that night.

It's one of those things, and I think you guys that are with me a lot, like I'm never going to tell you that, I'm definitely never going to tell you that pregame and probably not going to tell you that postgame because I want to make sure that the other manager doesn't know. It's not like we're the only people that have the ability to listen to this information. So it's more dependent on when you're going to use your leverage relievers.

Q. What's your best story of a time you followed a hunch and maybe went against the book in one of your moves and it paid off?

DEREK SHELTON: That's an interesting one. Probably Oviedo and Keller last year in their complete games. Everybody thinks when they get to a certain point, probably in Ovie's the most, letting him finish it. That's been something that that would probably stand out. They're so rare in today's games. You don't see it anymore.

Q. You got your wish with Ke'Bryan Hayes winning a Gold Glove. What was your reaction to that and also the reaction to him not winning the Platinum Glove? Will that be your cause for next year?

DEREK SHELTON: That is my new cause for next year is the Platinum Glove. I think he should have won the Platinum Glove. I think I told you guys numerous times, I think he's the best defender in baseball. Very happy for him. Very well deserved. Like I said numerous nights in Pittsburgh, we get spoiled watching him, what he does, how he does it. I think now that he's won the first one it's a situation where everybody realizes like how good a talent this guy is. So very excited. When they announced it I was -- I had a big smile across my face, and I actually thought about you guys, because now you can listen to me quit complaining about the fact that he hadn't won one.

Q. Oneil, how is he?

DEREK SHELTON: He's good. He played in some instructional league games in the Dominican. Was able to see the video of it. Stephen Morales was there for a week, Mindy was there for a week, Seth was there for a week with him. But it was probably the highlight of every day that I've had over the last two weeks is we have video of everything he does on the field. So just watching him take ground balls, watching him steal a base in a game, watching him have at-bats, that made me smile.

Q. He missed so much time last year. How much did that hurt your club not to have him?

DEREK SHELTON: I think it had a significant impact on us. We played, besides Oneil, we played eight other guys at shortstop. That's a premium position, and we're talking about one of the better young players in the game. I think we felt really good about the strides that he had made in the off-season, the adjustments that he had made, even early on both offensively and defensively. So it was a big part of our club. That's why it's so important that he comes back and he's healthy to start the 2024 season.

Q. (No microphone.)

DEREK SHELTON: I think so. I think we're going to talk about opportunity again. We're going to talk about competition. Some of our young players, there's going to be competition for spots this year. Yeah, I think this sense of urgency continues to go year after year and that will be part of the messaging as we get there. I'm not fully vetted on where, what it's going to be or the terminology that I'm going to use that first day in Bradenton, but I think the fact that we were able to take a significant step forward was very meaningful and will kind of continue to go from there.

Q. Do you anticipate Paul Skenes having an impact on a Big League club in 2024?

DEREK SHELTON: I think that's an interesting question. I think when Skenes is ready to come to the Big Leagues, then we will do that. But I think the other thing that's really important is we're talking about a kid that's really talented. But he's never pitched on five days, he's never pitched on six days. So, the trials and tribulations of the Major League season or of a minor league season is really important. We have to have those growing pains first before we can consider him to be part of the Major League team.

Q. As fans, as media, we look at ERA first as a pitching staff. What does innings mean?

DEREK SHELTON: I think innings is important. I think it's, you're beginning to see it being a gold standard of guys being able to go out. It's why Mitch's year was so important. To be durable. It's not only for what happens during the season, but it teaches guys how to prepare for the season. Especially young players, knowing the length and the grind of what a Major League season is about, and that there's going to be ups and downs. It's good messaging for how we're going to be in the off-season and how you have to prepare.