Tom Brunansky played 14 major league seasons but didn't have half as many hits as Paul Molitor's top-10-of-all-time 3,319. So won't it be awkward for Brunansky to serve as hitting coach under his new and more-accomplished manager?

"I don't see any issues," Brunansky said Thursday after accepting a one-year contract to continue in the role on the Twins coaching staff that he has held for two seasons. "There are different ways to get the production that we want. Our goal is to reach each individual, however we do it. Mollie and I, we've had the same thoughts and we bounce things off each other, which is fun to do."

Brunansky became the first coach added since Molitor signed a three-year contract as Twins manager Monday. The appointment was one Molitor and General Manager Terry Ryan agreed upon quickly. "I was hoping to bring Tom back. We accomplished a lot this year," Ryan said. "It was a mutual decision."

Molitor and Brunansky both played in the 1980s and 1990s but were never teammates. They became acquainted, though, during Brunansky's days has hitting coach at Class AA New Britain and Class AAA Rochester, when Molitor would come to town as a roving instructor.

"He would always come down to the cage, and we would pick his brain," Brunansky said. "This year [on former manager Ron Gardenhire's coaching staff] was no different. I used Mollie quite a bit."

Under Brunansky's direction, the Twins ranked fifth in the AL in runs scored and in OPS last season, scoring 101 more runs than they did in 2013, when they ranked 14th.

"I was very pleased with what we accomplished offensively. My biggest challenge to all hitters was to be very competitive, not game-to-game or month-to-month; I wanted us to compete on every pitch," Brunansky said. "My first year, I saw us giving away way too many at-bats, which made it easy for teams to get through our lineup."

Molitor's coaching lineup still has six vacancies, and it's not clear whether any of Gardenhire's other coaches will be offered positions. Ryan said he and the new manager are working daily to fill the staff, with the biggest emphasis on choosing a pitching coach. Rick Anderson, who held the job for all 13 seasons under Gardenhire, will not return.