MINNEAPOLIS — Torii Hunter, Minnesota’s 40-year-old right fielder in his 17th full major league season, was at the plate last week with the bases loaded.

Miguel Sano, the rookie slugger, was shouting more than simple encouragement from the dugout.

He was giving Hunter hitting advice.

“Make him come to you! Make him come to you!” Sano bellowed, cautioning Hunter against chasing a pitch outside the strike zone.

Twins manager Paul Molitor called the scene “a little bit comical,” the way the 22-year-old Sano earnestly warned Hunter to be patient.

“But it was good, because I think how he was thinking Torii should be thinking was how he thinks when he’s the guy doing that,” Molitor said, “which is not easy to do when you’re a young guy in a big situation.”

The Twins have put Sano in plenty of those big spots already in his not-quite-two-month-long career, and the broad-shouldered Dominican has delivered more than his share of big hits.