{"id":559560,"date":"2026-02-07T13:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/559560\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T13:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:30:14","slug":"taylor-rogers-owes-derek-shelton-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/559560\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Rogers Owes Derek Shelton One"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 27, 2019, Taylor Rogers<\/a> snagged a Ryan Goins<\/a> comebacker to secure his 21st save of the season in the Minnesota Twins\u2019 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. Immediately after catching the line-out, Rogers scurried inside and stood in front of the television.<\/p>\n

There, in the bowels of the White Sox\u2019s stadium on the South Side, he watched his twin brother make his major-league debut for the San Francisco Giants.<\/p>\n

Really special moment in the #MNTwins<\/a> clubhouse tonight. <\/p>\n

Taylor watching twin brother Tyler make his @MLB<\/a> debut with the @SFGiants<\/a> shortly after he recorded a save for the @Twins<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/EkPKpPGflf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dustin Morse (@morsecode) August 28, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Tyler Rogers<\/a> threw a crisp<\/a> 1-2-3 inning in San Francisco\u2019s 3-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants didn\u2019t pick up the win. Still, after seven years in the minors, Tyler Rogers, 28, had reached the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d an emotional Taylor Rogers said that day. \u201cI was probably the most excited person on planet earth right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor Rogers, now 35, signed<\/a> a one-year, $2 million contract to return to the Twins this offseason. Seven years have passed since that day. Rogers is no longer a closer; he throws 91 mph, not 95. Still, he recalls his brother\u2019s debut as if it were yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember it vividly. I got the save that day,\u201d he said. \u201cWe came back in. [Senior Director of Team Travel<\/a>] Mike Herman was more excited than I was. He had it up on the TVs in the White Sox clubhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I remember right, Derek Shelton<\/a> held the buses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Twins hired<\/a> Shelton to replace Rocco Baldelli<\/a> this offseason. However, \u201cShelty\u201d was Baldelli\u2019s bench coach in 2019. He had served as Paul Molitor<\/a>\u2019s bench coach the year before and helped Baldelli with the transition.<\/p>\n

Baldelli was taking over for a Minnesota baseball legend. The Twins had tasked the \u201cWoonsocket Rocket<\/a>,\u201d who spent most of his playing and coaching career with the Tampa Bay Rays, with turning around a team that had lost 84 games under Molitor the year before.<\/p>\n

In Baldelli\u2019s first year as a manager, the Bomba Squad hit a major-league record<\/a> 307 home runs and won 101 games. The Twins missed the postseason in seven of eight seasons before they hired Baldelli, but he led them to the playoffs in three of his first five seasons. In 2023, they won their first playoff series<\/a> since beating the Moneyball A\u2019s in 2002.<\/p>\n

However, ownership slashed<\/a> Minnesota\u2019s payroll by $30 million in 2024, and they played on a reduced payroll<\/a> again last year. Still, without the depth they had in 2023, the Twins collapsed in 2024 and conducted a fire sale<\/a>. Baldelli and later Falvey became the fall guys<\/a>, while Jeremy Zoll and Derek Shelton took their place.<\/p>\n

One upside to the managerial change? It enticed Rogers to return to the place where he started his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Shelton on the phone that if he was managing a team in Fargo, North Dakota, I would want to go there,\u201d said Rogers.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also excited to work with new Twins bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody that\u2019s aged gets it,\u201d said Rogers, who got informal advice from Hawkins, the former Twins reliever who pitched 21 years in the majors, during Rogers\u2019 first stint in Minnesota. \u201cYou used to just rely on talent alone, and now you\u2019re trying to use your experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you continue to advance when you\u2019re at the latter part of your career? He may have done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minnesota drafted Taylor Rogers in the 11th round of the 2012 draft out of the University of Kentucky. A year later, the Giants took Tyler Rogers in the 10th round out of Austin Peay. Taylor and Tyler had played college ball in the south, but graduated from Chatfield High School in Littleton, Co., a Denver suburb.<\/p>\n

Taylor reached the majors first, debuting with the Twins in 2016. He converted two saves in 2018. A year later, he was Minnesota\u2019s full-time closer and finished the season with 30 saves. He made his first and only All-Star team in 2021.<\/p>\n

Before Opening Day in 2022, the Twins traded him<\/a> and Brent Rooker<\/a> to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Emilio Pag\u00e1n<\/a> and Chris Paddack<\/a>. It was an ill-fated deal for Minnesota. Rooker had a negative WAR<\/a> in San Diego but became<\/a> an All-Star with the A\u2019s, where he has produced a 9.9 WAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t really say bye,\u201d said Rogers, who only returned to Target Field once after the Twins traded him. \u201cThere was closure at some point. I never really thought that coming back would be an option. Now that it is, it\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor Rogers had a -0.1 WAR with the Padres, who flipped him<\/a> to the Milwaukee Brewers for Josh Hader<\/a>. Rogers finished the year with the Brewers, then signed<\/a> a three-year, $33 million deal with the Giants. He played two years with Tyler in San Francisco before signing with the Cincinnati Reds last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so cool,\u201d Rogers said regarding playing with his brother. \u201cWe never even thought it was going to be possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got to do two years with him. That was the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year after playing with his brother, Taylor Rogers is back in Minnesota, playing for a manager who held the buses so he could watch Tyler\u2019s debut. His life has come full circle in what is likely his last year in the majors. Fortunately, he doesn\u2019t have to spend it in Fargo.<\/p>\n

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