FORT MYERS, Fla. —  Derek Shelton found himself in an unfamiliar place last summer: at home.

Fired last May by the Pittsburgh Pirates after a 12-26 start to the season, Shelton, who was a longtime major league coach before first becoming a manager ahead of the 2020 season, suddenly had time away from the game for the first time in decades.

“I think you don’t realize the privilege of putting on a major league uniform until you don’t put a major league uniform on,” the new Twins manager said Thursday. “Putting it on today, it was like, I haven’t done this in a while and it’s not just another regular season. That gets taken away from you for four months? (Thursday) was a really cool day for me.”

A day after pitchers and catchers reported to camp, the Twins had their first workout of the Derek Shelton era at the team’s Hammond Stadium complex in Fort Myers, with the new manager putting a strong emphasis on the details. Shelton, starting pitcher Bailey Ober said, focused on two fielding plays not made by pitchers in the playoffs and the impact those had.

The decision to highlight PFPs in the first meeting harkened back to a 15-minute conversation Shelton had with former Twins manager Tom Kelly at his introductory press conference in November.

“A large part of it was about some fundamental stuff and his thoughts on it. … Even when I was here as the bench coach, the time that he took with me, it really got me thinking about going back to 2018, my first year here, because they ran a specific schedule, especially a PFP schedule. It had been here since TK,” Shelton said. “TK’s words really resonated with me of how important from the jump it was. … Honestly, I’d be crazy not to take advice that was passionate and heartfelt from someone who loves the Twins, so I kind of took it to heart.”

While he’s still introducing himself to people — the Twins have more than 60 players in camp at the moment — Shelton met most over the offseason at TwinsFest and went and visited with some individually. He already has worked with a few, such as Byron Buxton, Taylor Rogers, Josh Bell and new acquisition Anthony Banda, in his stops in Minnesota and Pittsburgh.

“The communication has been great. I think that’s super important,” starting pitcher Joe Ryan said. “He wants to win. That’s what we all want to do. He has a good plan. I appreciate the communication.”

Target Field happenings

Last week, the Twins announced a new ticket package — a buy-two-games, get-one-free offer — and price reduction for the Twins Pass. This week, they announced their slate of promos, theme nights and other offerings designed to get fans back in the ballpark.

The Twins drew 1,768,728 fans last season, the lowest total since the Target Field opened with the exception of the two COVID-affected seasons.

New this year, the Twins will offer $2 pregame beer for every game for MyTwins Choice and Reserved Members. On Friday and Saturdays, the reduced-price beer is available to all fans for purchase. They also announced a Friday pregame Happy Hour, featuring beer, hot dogs and snacks, all for $2 each, along with live music. On Sundays, kids 12 and under will receive free ice cream.

Special giveaway items include a Royce Lewis replica jersey on June 6, a Buxton bobblehead on June 27 and a Kirby Puckett baby blue jersey on July 25. Theme nights include Bark at the Park (May 12, Sept. 1), Prince Night (June 4), Star Wars Night (May 16) and new offerings like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Day (May 17) and Pop Star Night (June 5), among others.

Briefly

Pitcher Cory Lewis, who was likely to begin his season at Triple-A St. Paul, suffered a moderate subscapularis strain, Shelton said. Lewis had reported to camp early and reported the injury after throwing a bullpen on Saturday. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks. … Former Twins greats Johan Santana and Bert Blyleven were at camp on Thursday.