With a lot of attention being paid to Max Kepler's ridiculous surge, Brian Dozier's complete 180, Joe Mauer's absurd recent stretch (1.452 OPS in his last 11 games), Miguel Sano's possible demotion, Byron Buxton's actual demotion, the trade deadline coming and going, Jose Berrios … it feels like Eddie Rosario's brilliance since coming back from the minors has been very much overshadowed as a Twins storyline.

But Rosario has been fantastic at the plate since being recalled from Rochester a month ago. In fact, he's been so good that his overall second season numbers basically look like his rookie season numbers (minus the absurd number of triples). And his numbers since coming back from that demotion are good enough to be a headlining act instead of just a side stage when considering the Twins' much-improved play.

Rosario was hitting a dismal .200 with a .532 OPS when he was demoted in mid-May. He went to Rochester and started a little slowly before getting his AAA average to .319 and his OPS near .900 before coming back in early July.

And since that recall, he's been even better in the majors — hitting .350 with 14 extra-base hits (including four homers) and a .967 OPS. He's had 10 multi-hit games (two of which were four-hit games) to raise his overall average to .270 and his overall OPS to .735 — mirroring last year's marks of .267 and .748, respectively. He's only walked three times since coming back, but his pitch selection appears better.

The Twins, it should be noted, are 25-18 in their last 43 games. And they're 17-9 in games in which Rosario has played (14-8 in his starts) since his recall. During a season in which the Twins seemed destined to lose at least 100 games (if not more) after starting 20-48, their recent stretch puts them at 45-66 and gives them a chance at even avoiding 90 losses. That's dim praise for a team that had playoff aspirations, but it would go a long way toward changing the narrative on this season and what lies ahead in 2017.