Pittsburgh Pirates sack manager Derek Shelton following disappointing start to 2025 MLB season

After a nightmare opening to the campaign, the Pittsburgh Pirates have officially shown Derek Shelton the door. The decision comes on the heels of a 12-26 start and a demoralizing sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, leaving the front office with little choice but to make a change in the dugout.

Shelton exits with a six-year mark of 306-440, a stretch marred by consistent underperformance, including back-to-back 100-loss seasons in 2021 and 2022. The latest collapse simply proved too much to ignore.

Here's some of the quick reaction from around the MLB world:

Stepping into the hot seat on an interim basis is bench coach Don Kelly, now charged with the unenviable task of breathing life into a Pirates squad that's hit rock bottom offensively and sits dead last in the NL Central.

Pittsburgh's 12-win tally ranks third-worst in all of Major League Baseball and second-lowest in the National League. They've dropped 10 of their last 11 contests and are currently mired in a seven-game skid.

With the season already slipping through their fingers, Kelly will need to ignite a turnaround — fast — or risk the Pirates being out of contention before summer even hits.

There's still plenty of baseball on the calendar, but the Pirates must wake up fast if they want to steady the ship. Urgency is the name of the game now, the front office and players alike need to take bold, corrective steps to stop the slide and steer the club in the right direction.

Pittsburgh will aim to halt their losing skid on Friday night when they welcome the Atlanta Braves (17-19) to town for a 6:40 pm EDT first pitch at PNC Park.