Pittsburgh fans were fired up seeing Pirates manager Derek Shelton at Steelers camp

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton experienced a Western Pennsylvania rite of passage this week as he headed to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe to get his first taste of a Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.

Shelton and Pirates general manager Ben Cherington accepted an invitation from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to watch practice from the sidelines on Tuesday morning as part of a motley crew of guests that included Bret Michaels, lead singer of the band Poison and known Steelers fan, and Fox NFL insider Jay Glazer.

Shelton, in his fifth year as manager of the Pirates, has developed a friendship with Tomlin, who has been the Steelers' head coach since 2007. Per Kevin Gorman of TribLive, Shelton noted that Tomlin is a big baseball fan and was "excited" to talk with him about the Pirates' season and even specific players.

Pirates' Shelton picks up some practice tips from Tomlin at Steelers training camp

Shelton also praised Tomlin's high-energy approach to practice and his ability to inject intensity into every rep, sequence and drill. He was particularly impressed by Tomlin's "Seven Shots" drill, where the offense runs seven goal-line plays against the defense, and has even tried applying a similar concept in his practices with the Pirates.

According to Gorman, Shelton implemented a baseball-modified version of the drill that used a five-man infield to practice plays at the plate.

“We kind of took that from a conversation he and I had this winter where he was explaining the drill to me, the highest leverage situation, how you can do it,” Shelton said (via Gorman). “The one big difference – and we didn’t talk about it today but we’ve talked about it in the past – is they practice at game speed. And that’s the hardest thing in baseball.”

The Steelers kick off their preseason slate Friday at home against the Houston Texans, while the Pirates head west to open a critical three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Let's hope that Shelton picked up some of Tomlin's infectious energy and passed it on to the Pirates players; as they look to snap a four-game losing streak on the road against the top team in the National League West, they're going to need it.

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