FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Joe Vavra's baseball resume reads like a novel.
Minor-league player. Minor-league manager. Instructor. Roving coach. College coach. Big-league hitting coach. Third-base coach.
And now, bench coach.
Not all of those titles were held in the Twins' organization, but Vavra is now the longest-tenured member of Minnesota's coaching staff. When manager Ron Gardenhire was let go following the 2014 season, most of his staff was not retained. Only Vavra and hitting coach Tom Brunansky returned under new skipper Paul Molitor.
Vavra has been in the Twins organization since 2002 and joined the major-league staff in 2006 as a hitting coach. Amid a sea of changes for Minnesota this offseason, Vavra has been the one constant.
But he wasn't sure whether he'd have a job at the end of the 2014 season.
"I'd had nine years in and then (Gardenhire) was let go and we were uncertain because we weren't really told what we were going to do. It was kind of a waiting game," Vavra said. "But I was told to be patient, and I was."
Vavra's patience in the game of baseball is a big reason he's continued to coach the sport he loves. He's had to wear many hats in the process, but he's always enjoyed whatever role he's held.
In the Twins organization, that was first the hitting coach from 2006 -12. Under Vavra's tutelage, Joe Mauer won three batting titles and the American League MVP, and Justin Morneau also won an MVP award, while players like Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel also thrived at the plate.
Vavra then transitioned to third-base coach for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and also served as the infield instructor along the way. When Molitor was named manager in early November, he had a staff to build. Though most of his hires came from outside the previous regime, Molitor chose to bring back Vavra.
As Molitor has tried to navigate the ins and outs of leading his first spring training, Vavra has never been too far away as the manager's right-hand man, directing traffic between all the fields at the team's complex while also doing his best to tutor the Twins' players.
"Joe's been great," Molitor said. "Joe can efficiently coach any aspect of this game if you ask me. But as far as organizational skills and camp coordinating, so far that's been very valuable."
Vavra said he wasn't actively job seeking at the end of the 2014 season when his future remained a mystery, but he did have a few options lined up if things with the Twins didn't work out. Once he got the call from Molitor with the offer to serve as bench coach, it was time for Vavra, a man who's worn many hats, to don a new one.
Twins second baseman Brian Dozier is entering his fourth major-league season with the Twins. During that time, Vavra will have now held three different titles. So far into Vavra's tenure as bench coach, Dozier said he hasn't missed a beat.
"What I love about him is he works his tail off and he works his tail off to make you the best player you can possibly be," Dozier said. "That's the stuff that we respect as players. He'll do anything and everything to make you be a better player, and go out of his way to do whatever you ask of him, to do the stuff you don't ask, but he brings you information, every single thing to make you be a better player. That's Joe to a T."
Mauer is the longest-tenured player on the Twins -- Torii Hunter, who left for seven seasons after playing with Minnesota for 11 years, doesn't count -- and has been in the big leagues for longer than Vavra has been a Twins coach. Like Dozier, Mauer has seen the mentality with which Vavra has attacked his new role.
"Joe's awesome. There's a reason why he's still here and why he's been successful, I guess, in a lot of different roles," Mauer said. "He knows the game and he works hard. I was real happy to see him come back."
Vavra, whose two sons were drafted by the Twins and are in the minor-league system, turned 55 in November. He's spent more than half his life in professional baseball after the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him out of the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1982.
For the past decade, Vavra has given back to the game and shared his baseball knowledge with players in the Twins organization. Although his role for 2015 may have changed, Vavra hasn't.
"It's the best job in baseball. There's no doubt it's the best job in baseball," Vavra said. "But so was being the third-base coach, and so was being the hitting coach. That's my approach. I try to keep a positive, fresh look on every day. Every 24 hours, you have a new opportunity to prove yourself and make people better."
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