Twins infield coach Ramon Borrego keeps energy up during a down season

Ramon Borrego, the Twins infield coach, stood in the back of the home clubhouse and demonstrated the movements he wanted to see from Austin Martin at second base.

Positioned behind a table, which featured game film on a laptop, Borrego was bouncing on his toes and showing how to react to imaginary ground balls in different directions with Martin next to him.

This was before a game this month against the Chicago White Sox, featuring two teams well out of the playoff race. A tarp covered the Target Field infield, and on-field batting practice was canceled. Borrego spent more than 15 minutes chatting with Martin, who has played 28 innings in the infield this season. An hour later, with the tarp still out, Borrego stood in front of the dugout doing drills with rookie second baseman Luke Keaschall.

Borrego, in his first season in the big leagues after 15 years as a minor league manager, oversaw many homegrown Twins players at Class AA Wichita. All the prep work before games, players say, is Ramon being Ramon.

“Ramon is going to work you to death in the best way possible,” Martin said. “He really cares about developing us and helping us get better even at this level. It’s the same energy every day, which I love.”

The Twins rate as a poor defensive team — particularly at shortstop and right field this year, according to Sports Info Solutions — but there have been some individual improvements. Royce Lewis cleaned up his throwing at third base, which he attributes to more efficient footwork. Keaschall has shown fine range at second despite below-average arm strength following Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. Kody Clemens has proven solid at first.

Borrego individualizes plans for each infielder. He works with Lewis extensively on his glove control and his drop steps. A focus for Keaschall is keeping his head up when running to his backhand and staying behind the ball. Brooks Lee, the everyday shortstop since the trade deadline, is working on improving his first-step quickness to better his range.

Borrego, 47, played for seven seasons in the Twins farm system from 1996 to 2002, reaching Class AAA, before he turned to coaching. He started at the bottom rung, as a Venezuelan Academy coach, before he became a rookie-ball manager.

When the San Diego Padres visited at the end of August and former Twins player and three-time All-Star Luis Arraez, a fellow Venezuelan, saw Borrego at Target Field, they embraced for a long hug. Borrego was Arraez’s first coach in rookie ball. It was common for Borrego to receive calls from Arraez in the offseason: “Hey, what are you doing? Come over and work with me.”

“He gave me a lot of opportunities, and he helped me a lot,” Arraez said. “Ramon is one of my favorite coaches.”

Borrego, a Class AA manager from 2019 to ’24, received his call to the big leagues last winter while he was in Venezuela. After all those years he tried to break through as a player, he finally did it after 20 years as a coach.

“That’s your dream,” Borrego said. “I got it now.”

“He’s intense,” Lewis said. “He does anything to win. He does anything to help you as a player become better because he believes in literally anyone and everyone that is on his team.

“We had a team full of prospects with him, but at the same time, he brought that energy and awareness. He didn’t let little things fly, like you weren’t running hard. He’d talk to you right away, and he helped you develop into the player that you need to be.”

Borrego is quick to point out to infielders where he believes they can improve. They will study game film. They will work on the intricacies during batting practice, where Borrego regularly meets with players for early work — and he’s typically back at it after batting practice.