Ehire Adrianza enjoyed a 12-year career in Major League Baseball but he may have had his best years with the Minnesota Twins.

While he wasn’t a star player, he played a key role as a utility man and was a positive presence in the clubhouse for the 2019 “Bomba Squad” team that won the American League Central championship.

That makes it less of a surprise that Adrianza joined the Twins front office as a player development assistant this winter but the 35-year-old’s future plans may be a shock as he looks to become a 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 to MLB.com’s Matthew Leach.

 “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 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.”

Ehire Adrianza turned down the Twins’ first offer to join the front office

The Twins reached out to Adrianza shortly after he announced his retirement on Christmas Day.

While the Twins offered Adrianza the job of Minor League infield coordinator, he turned it down in part to the fact “it didn’t feel right” as he wanted to learn the foundation of an organization before jumping into a large role.

The Twins tried again shortly after Adrianza declined and offered him the player development assistant role that he will assume this season.

Adrianza will work with infielders at all levels from Triple-A St. Paul to the team’s Dominican Republic academy and help some of the younger players adapt to life in professional baseball as he did after coming to the United States from Venezuela early in his career.

“I think that’s in my DNA,” Adrianza said of his new role.

“Show these 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 they can play at the big league level.”

After a career that included a World Series title with the Atlanta Braves in 2021, Adrianza is poised to help the next group of infielders make the jump to the majors and may find himself in a bigger role in the coming years.