Glenn Sherlock eager to lend his wisdom to Pirates coaching staff, manager Shelton

Many career paths in professional baseball eventually intertwine, especially for veterans of the game like Derek Shelton and Glenn Sherlock.

Sherlock was working as a catching instructor in the New York Yankees farm system in 1992. That same year, Shelton was beginning his brief professional playing career as a catcher with the Yankees’ short-season Class A Oneonta farm club in the New York-Penn League.

Nearly two decades later, Sherlock and Shelton are reunited with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Shelton was hired as manager Nov. 27 to replace Clint Hurdle. One of his coaches will be Sherlock, who will work with the catchers and assist in game preparation and run prevention.

Shelton’s playing career was ended by an elbow injury in 1993, and he eventually got into managing and coaching. While he and Sherlock occasionally kept in touch, they did not spend much time together until a few years ago when they began working as instructors during offseason camps for amateur players.

“It was really great to reconnect,” Sherlock said. “Sometimes, when you do those camps, it’s a good opportunity to really catch up with people, talk about what you’ve been doing, what you’ve learned over the years. We both had gained a lot of experiences, and we had a lot to talk about.”

They will be talking more than ever this season as the timing was fortuitous for Shelton and Sherlock to join forces.

Sherlock spent the last three seasons with the New York Mets as a catching/base coach. But Sherlock lost his job when manager Mickey Callaway was fired in October.

Because owner Bob Nutting did not fire general manager Neal Huntington until Oct. 28, the Pirates had to restart their manager search under successor Ben Cherington. Shelton was not hired until nearly two months after the season ended.

The late start to building a coaching staff put the Pirates in a tough spot as many coaches with other organizations already were under contract for 2020.

Sherlock jumped at the opportunity to stay in the major leagues, with the bonus of working under someone he knows. Sherlock has been a coach in the majors since continuously 1998, when he was on the Arizona Diamondbacks staff for their expansion season.

The 59-year-old was with the Diamondbacks through 2016 before moving on to the Mets.

“I’m really fired up about joining the Pirates organization,” Sherlock said. “I’m really fired up about the people I work with. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity, and it’s really awesome to be a part of franchise that has so much history.”

The Pirates’ recent history hasn’t been good. They went 69-93 last season to finish in last place in the National League Central for the first time since 2010, leading to the firings of Hurdle and Huntington.

Sherlock will be utilized in many ways as the Pirates try to get back on track.

In addition to coaching the catchers, he will take part in pre-game meetings with pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage. Sherlock also will serve as a sounding board to Shelton and bench coach Don Kelly in the dugout during games.

“We’ll get together — Oscar, Justin and I — and see what information the catchers like, learn what information they think really helps them because there is a lot of information out there,” Sherlock said. “And I really like the idea that I’ll be doing different things. I think it’s going to be a lot fun to be able to use my experience in a number of ways to try to help the team win.”

The Pirates are hoping Shelton can get them back on a winning course. Sherlock has plenty of confidence it will happen.

“I’m really excited to see Derek get this chance to manage in the major leagues,” Sherlock said. “He’s a really talented guy. He’s got a good way about him and the type of personality that the players are going to enjoy.”