The Dodgers took a chance on Dave Roberts in 2016, hiring him to his first full-time manager’s job at any level of baseball. Ten seasons later, he’s among the most respected managers in baseball.<\/p>\n
More news: Shohei Ohtani Sets Dodgers, MLB Records in World Series Game 3<\/a><\/p>\n Roberts, 53, is the fourth-longest tenured manager in baseball. The retirement of Bruce Bochy and the dismissal of Bob Melvin leaves only Terry Francona, A.J. Hinch, Kevin Cash and Craig Counsell with more regular season games managed than Roberts.<\/p>\n That puts Roberts in a special position as a sounding board to his coaching counterparts around the game. <\/p>\n Derek Shelton recently told the Rosters to Rings podcast that the managerial ranks are a lonely fraternity with few mentors to go around. Shelton, who was hired to manage the Minnesota Twins<\/a> on Wednesday, believes that’s a problem.<\/p>\n “What ends up happening in Major League Baseball is, you lean on other managers in the game,” Shelton said<\/a>, specifically mentioning Hinch and former Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. “I think you end up talking to people who have similar mindsets to you \u2014\u00a0in terms of what you\u2019re doing and how you\u2019re going about it \u2014 then you also develop relationships with other people.<\/p>\n More news: Canadian Michael Bubl\u00e9 Gets Honest About Shohei Ohtani Using His Walk-Up Song<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDave Roberts is someone who\u2019s become a pseudo-mentor to me,” Shelton continued<\/a>. “He\u2019s been through a lot more different things than I have.\u00a0We\u2019re similar in age but have different backgrounds. He was a really good major league player. He\u2019s managed the best team in baseball. But different mindsets, in terms of what you\u2019re doing, the ability to lead, how you go about things.”<\/p>\n Shelton was the Twins’ bench coach before he was hired to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates going into the 2020 season. Shelton’s teams never finished above .500 over the next five seasons. The Pirates had a 12-26 record when Shelton was fired in May.<\/p>\n After taking the rest of the season to reflect, Shelton now returns to a familiar setting for his second act as a manager. <\/p>\n Perhaps Roberts \u2014 who now stands on the precipice of his second consecutive World Series title, as one of the game’s senior bench bosses \u2014 played some small role in helping Shelton land back on his feet.<\/p>\n “If you\u2019re going to improve as a leader you have to be able to get information from someone, and you have to be able to take that information and listen to it,” Shelton said<\/a>. “I really think it\u2019s something that in professional sports we don\u2019t do as well.\u201d <\/p>\n