Paul Skenes Claims He Was Not ‘Shocked’ to See Manager Derek Shelton Get FIRED by Pirates

After a 12-26 start to the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton, which for Paul Skenes was not shocking.

Paul Skenes Claims He Was Not ‘Shocked’ to See Manager Derek Shelton Get FIRED by Pirates

Paul Skenes and Derek Shelton (Image via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Following a slow start to the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates this week fired manager Derek Shelton. On Friday, the team’s ace pitcher, Paul Skenes, spoke on this and admitted he was not ‘shocked’ to see the skipper lose his job.

The Pirates have once again endured a tough start to a season. After a 3-7 start, the team was 12-19 at one stage. However, after that, the team endured a major losing run and lost 7 games on the bounce and left them with a 12-26 record.

Shelton took over the job as team manager in 2019. In his first three seasons, the team struggled heavily and had two successive 100-plus loss seasons.

In 2023, the team improved a little bit and finished with a 76-86 record. The following year, they had an identical record and missed the playoffs once again after losing 10 games in a row in August.

Given those performances and the way they have started again, the Pirates’ management decided to relieve Shelton of his duties earlier this week. Bench coach Don Kelly was named the new skipper of the team.

While speaking to the reporters regarding Shelton’s dismissal, Skenes got candid and claimed that somebody had to be held ‘accountable’ for the performances. He did label this as ‘unfortunate‘ for Shilton.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t shocked. At the end of the day, we’re 12-26. Someone’s got to be held accountable, and unfortunately right now, it’s him.

Paul Skenes told the reporters

Shelton finished his stint as the Pirates manager with a 306-440 record in over 5 years in charge. During this run, the Pirates have finished bottom of the National League Central Division on 4 occasions. They only time they finished higher than 5th was in the 2022 campaign, where they came 4th with a 62-100 record.

Paul Skenes issues warning to Pirates following poor start to the 2025 season

The Pittsburgh Pirates are once again in a tough spot at the moment. The team had started the 2025 campaign slowly which resulted in manager Derek Shelton being fired from his position. Pitcher Paul Skenes issued a warning to the team later now.

Paul Skenes
Paul Skenes (Image via AP)

Skenes, who won the National League Rookie of the Year award last year after going 11-3, has also struggled at the plate this year. With a 3-4 record in his 8 starts, the pitcher has an ERA of 2.77 while giving up 15 runs.

While speaking to the reporters regarding the firing of Shelton, Skenes added that if the team does not improve, then could collapse even further.

If nothing else, we’re going to grow. We better grow. If we don’t grow, it’s a completely lost season.

Paul Skenes told the reporters

After 39 games, the Pirates have the 4th worst batting average in the league at .218, just ahead of the struggling Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, and the Chicago White Sox. Meanwhile, they are ranked 22nd in the ERA standings at 4.25 among the 30 teams in MLB.

Paul Skenes’ Pirates end 7-game losing run with win in Don Kelly’s debut

After 5 seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates had a new man in charge of the team. Bench coach Don Kelly was named as the manager of the team after the firing of Derek Shelton. In his debut match, the Pirates ended a 7-game losing run with a victory.

Don Kelly
Don Kelly (Image via ESPN)

Alexander Canario opened the scoring for the Pirates with a solo home run in the third inning to the opposite field. Jared Triolo extended the lead with a solo home run off his own in the 6th inning. Veteran Andrew McCutchen came close to homering in this inning as well.

His shot would bounce off the top of the center field wall and fall back onto the ground. He instead had to settle for an RBI double as Bryan Reynolds came home to make it a 3-0 game. The Atlanta Braves did score 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning, but were unable to find the game tying run and ended up dropping this game.

The NL Central team would be hoping to continue this run in their next game and try to win just their 2nd series of the 2025 season. After this series, they will be on the road to take on the Braves’ division rivals, the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies.

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