Derek Shelton played baseball at Southern Illinois University from 1989 to 1991. SIU was Playboy’s No. 1 party school at the time, but Shelton attended because it was the local college in Carbondale, Ill. The Salukis reached the NCAA Tournament during his sophomore year. As a junior, he threw out 43% of runners, leading the Missouri Valley Conference.
The personable, fun-loving Shelton grew up in a town full of characters. There was a homeless guy in Carbondale named Time Lloyd, who wore multiple watches but always asked you for the time. One guy’s legal name is Treesong. Southern Illinois University was home to a famous professor, R. Buckminster Fuller, who invented the geodesic dome and pioneered one of the first electric cars. There is a cult of people inspired by him who call themselves the Fullerites.
Shelton isn’t the biggest character from Carbondale, far from it. He knows how to keep time, uses his first and last name, and doesn’t live in a geodesic dome. Still, he’s a personality in his own right. He has “Dan Campbell vibes,” according to Royce Lewis, referencing the Detroit Lions’ hyper-caffeinated, knee-biting coach.
“I’m ready to run through a wall for him,” said Lewis, who invited him to Hard Eight BBQ near the Dallas airport. “His vibe, his energy, his charisma – it’s all positive, and it’s exciting.”
Derek Shelton is a connector. He invests in his players’ lives off the field. He keeps them updated on where he sees their fit, especially when the Minnesota Twins were signing in the offseason. Shelton met with many of Minnesota’s top players in the offseason, including Lewis, Ryan Jeffers, and Byron Buxton, to learn how best to manage them.
“He truly wants you to get better,” said Buxton, who met him in Jacksonville, a two-hour drive from his hometown of Baxley, Ga. “[Shelton] tries to understand who you are, tries to come out and talk to you. He tries to engage himself.”
Shelton has always prioritized communication when coaching. He was the Cleveland Guardians’ hitting coach from 2003 to 2009, then for the Tampa Bay Rays from 2009 to 2016. Shelton says he wasn’t a great technical hitting coach, but he learned how to communicate with players.
He’d listen to them describe their issues at the plate and try to diagnose the issue as clearly as possible. Shelton always felt he could better coach a player if he prioritized building a personal relationship. Therefore, he always made sure to ask about where they came from and how their families were doing.
“When you try to engage yourself, you start figuring out a little bit more about your players,” said Buxton. “You start figuring out more of what goes on in their life, situations, communication. The only way for you to know that, you gotta communicate with your players.
“So, I think he’d do a great job of that,” said Buxton, “and it’s something that’ll take us a little farther than what we have in the past.”
Ryan Jeffers feels Shelton acts as a conduit between the coaches and players.
“I really like the energy he brings,” said Jeffers, who met Shelton in North Carolina during Thanksgiving. “He bridges the gap really well. I think part of the manager’s job is to bridge the gap between the coaching staff and the locker room, and I think he does that really well.”
When building his coaching staff, Shelton sought out coaches with different skillsets and personalities from his own. The affable Toby Gardenhire is his field coordinator, and the wonkish Mark Hallberg is his bench coach. Pitching coach Pete Maki is sardonic, while bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins is a sage veteran.
“People talk about learning from when you build staffs in previous stops,” said Shelton. “The one thing that I wanted is I wanted someone with a different skill set than mine.”
He also likes having personalities in the clubhouse. Liam Hendriks, the goofy Australian. Andrew Chafin, with his mustache and mullet. Anthony Banda, the journeyman vet who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs.
Shelton feels personality builds camaraderie. He wants to manage a unique cast of characters.
“I love the personalities,” he said. “I love the banter.”
Derek Shelton is connecting a team that became disconnected over the past few seasons. Part of that was Minnesota’s fire sale last year, where it traded nearly 40% of its roster at the deadline.
However, there were larger underlying issues. Royce Lewis pushed back against swing changes the Twins wanted him to implement. Byron Buxton didn’t like that Minnesota’s front office never clarified they wouldn’t trade him, given his commitment to the Twins. Signing Christian Vazquez, who was in his 30s and declining, cut into Ryan Jeffers’ playing time.
All of that, plus ownership’s payroll slashes and potential sale, created chaos immediately after the Twins won their first playoff series since 2002. Perhaps it makes sense that they turned to a man from a town full of characters who is masterful at creating connections to turn this around.
Derek Shelton has a tough task ahead of him as he tries to turn this team around. However, he might be the kind of guy who can do it.
