For Adrianza, new player development role 'in my DNA'
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This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach¡¯s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Upon his retirement as a player, Ehire Adrianza was out of baseball for approximately zero days. He hopes it stays that way.
Adrianza, who played in 12 seasons at the big league level as a versatile infielder, was technically still thinking about where he was going to play in 2025 when the Twins called to offer him a job in their organization. The first job they offered ¨C Minor League infield coordinator ¨C didn¡¯t feel right to the 35-year-old from Venezuela.
When they discussed hiring him as a player development assistant instead, Adrianza couldn¡¯t say no. That¡¯s because he hopes it¡¯s the first step in a road that will eventually lead him to the top chair in baseball operations somewhere ¨C general manager.
¡°This is going to open a lot of doors in different aspects of the game, maybe on the field, maybe off the field,¡± Adrianza said. ¡°I¡¯m going to take this very slow. I think I have to learn so much, I have to be like a sponge once I get to Spring Training because I need to learn a lot about this side of the game. Wherever baseball takes me, I¡¯m going to be grateful and going to be doing my thing. But if you ask me, I¡¯d like to be a GM someday at the big league level.¡±
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It¡¯s telling that the first offer Adrianza received was to be an infield coordinator. That¡¯s a big job, and for the Twins to think him ready for it says a lot about how people in the game regard him. For him to turn it down may say just as much. Adrianza explained that he wanted to gain more knowledge of the organizational and instructional side of things before taking on that kind of responsibility.
As it is, Adrianza will be traveling from Triple-A St. Paul all the way to the club¡¯s Dominican Republic academy, working with infielders. And while a lot of his work will be nuts and bolts baseball instruction, some of it will also be imparting life skills to youngsters learning to be professionals.
¡°I think that¡¯s in my DNA,¡± he said. ¡°Show those guys how to play the right way, how to respect the game. To make an impact on those players. Because at the end of the day, it¡¯s trying to make the players better so that they can play at the big league level.¡±