FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Julio Borbón doesn't stand still for a second. 

One moment, he's tapping first baseman Wander Valdez on the shoulder to offer a suggestion as the 22-year-old holds a runner on the bag. The next second, Borbón is animatedly talking to baserunner Mikey Perez about how to take a secondary lead, with so much enthusiasm for the topic that he's practicing that secondary lead himself afterward while a pitcher throws live from the mound. 

He's standing behind Perez as he does this, so the prospect can't even watch his technique. Borbón is doing this for himself as much as he is for the younger player; he loves every minute of these drills, moving around out on the field, soaking it all in.

Don't blink after the pitch is thrown, because then you'll miss Borbón bouncing over to Hank Conger, the Twins' new first-base coach, who is spending time trying to get reps at his new position. The pair chat for a bit before Borbón takes another secondary lead. This time, Conger tries out the secondary lead, too. 

"[Borbón has] got a thousand ideas," Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. "He's going, going, going." 

That's the version of the former big leaguer (five seasons with the Rangers, Cubs and Orioles) that Twins farm director Alex Hassan remembered from the time the pair spent together in the Venezuelan Winter League with Tigres del Licey during the 2013-14 offseason -- and that familiarity helped Borbón find his new home as the assistant coordinator of player development with the Twins following the recent completion of his contract with the Yankees' organization.

"First thing is he was an incredibly hard worker," Hassan remembers. "He was always working on all facets of his game, whether it was in the outfield, on defense, on the bases, trying to pick up things to help him steal bases. He was always working on his swing." 

This season, Borbón will be based out of his home in Nashville, Tenn., (he's a proud Tennessee Volunteer) and will spend time in Fort Myers, Fla., and the Dominican Academy in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, working on baserunning and defensive fundamentals alongside former big league hitting coach Edgar Varela. That's where the majority of Borbón's experience is, considering he worked with low-level affiliates in the Yankees' organization, too.

And only three years removed from his playing career, as part of which he hit .273/.318/.347 with 219 hits and 47 steals in the Majors, and at a crossroads in terms of his career with the Yankees, Borbón found a culture of collaboration and family in the Twins in which he instantly clicked. 

"I'm three weeks in and I told my friends, family, ‘I love coming here,’" Borbón said. "I think not only having a say, but also feeling like you're listened to, it's amazing. I think watching how people go about things here -- being around staff like Derek Falvey, Thad Levine, Alex [Hassan] -- it's amazing. It really is. It's something that I don't take for granted." 

When Borbón reached out to Hassan during the offseason after the pair had connected on a Zoom coaching seminar a year earlier, the Twins immediately found plenty that they liked. Considering the disparities that exist between the experiences of drafted American players and signed international prospects, it's tough to find many people able to relate to both sets of stories. Borbón fits neatly into that gap.

Born in the United States but raised in the Dominican Republic, Borbón had the opportunity to sign as a young international amateur but chose instead to graduate from high school and attend the University of Tennessee, from which he was the 35th overall pick in the 2007 Draft. Fast-tracked to the big leagues, he played in the 2010 World Series with the Rangers but couldn't establish a consistent foothold in a short MLB career. He's seen the gamut of successes and challenges. 

But Borbón has never lost an ounce of his joy for the game. And looking back, whether it's with Tennessee or his time in the Minors or MLB or the Mexican League, he's particularly fond of the little moments on the field -- the day-to-day camaraderie, the drills, the incremental growth -- and keeping all that in perspective in a season that can often become a grind or goal-oriented to an extreme is something Borbón hopes to impart on his young players.

"Understanding a lot of the kids and the positions they're in today, I pretty much see myself in so many of them, whether you're drafted out of college, whether you're an international signing," Borbón said. "It's easy to relate, connect with them and understand them at so many different levels."

There's also the natural curiosity, energy and growth mindset that immediately come across, especially in these early years as a coach. Ever since Paul Molitor arrived in camp earlier in the week as an instructor, Borbón has followed the former Twins skipper around, simply trying to absorb as much as he can. (He plans to ask for Molitor's autograph before the Hall of Famer heads north.) 

And in that mold, Falvey notes that the Twins plan to broaden Borbón's coaching skill set over time and work with him to develop as a professional, too. Borbón has noted that those around him have told him he could eventually make a great manager, or general manager, or hold any number of positions in a front office, given his mindset and skills that are so valued in modern baseball.

But for now, those sorts of aspirations are the furthest thing from his mind as he goes back to enjoying the day-to-day life on the field that he loves so much and hopes to lead young players to love, too -- one secondary lead at a time.

"I want to enjoy this journey by the day rather than focusing too much on what's down the road," Borbón said. "Not that you shouldn't have a goal ... but I think a lot of that will kind of happen organically. You'll just kind of do what you're supposed to. I just want to be able to grow and put myself in a position where I can be a better coach for as many players as possible, to give each and every one of those guys the best opportunity to make it."