By Tom Zahari

Special to the Detroit Free Press

Tom Zahari is a writer for the Detroit Tigers blog Motor City Bengals. His opinions do not reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can read our Motor City Bengals blogs every week and find Tom on Twitter at @zaharitom7.

The Detroit Tigers' defense has been a weakness for the last number of years. Since 2010, the Tigers have rated 25th in total team defense by FanGraphs.

But those tides might turn. John Manuel of Baseball America pointed out in a tweet that the Tigers could be special up the middle this season.

The addition of Jose Iglesias in 2013 was a major defensive improvement, as he made almost every conceivable play at shortstop. Iglesias turned heads with his glove and drew comparisons to Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel, two legendary fielding shortstops. Iglesias missed all of 2014 because of shin injuries, and the Tigers struggled at shortstop in his absence. Eugenio Suarez and Andrew Romine did a nice job filling in, but they are not even close to Iglesias defensively.

Iglesias' return in 2015 should give the Tigers a vacuum at shortstop and help third baseman Nick Castellanos improve defensively by covering more ground behind him. Oglesias is a huge under-the-radar addition to the Tigers in 2015 if he can return to his preinjury form.

Ian Kinsler will be Iglesias' partner in the middle of the infield for the next few years. In 2014, Kinsler posted a 13.0 UZR, which was good for second in all of baseball. Kinsler is not one who makes the flashy plays, but he is elite because he makes every routine play and is elite in making what are defined as "even" (the defender will make the play 40%-60% of the time) and "likely" (60%-90%) plays. Kinsler made the likely plays 89.5% of the time and the even plays 68.4% of the time. If Kinsler and Iglesias are both healthy, they could be the best double-play combination in baseball.

The Tigers' acquisition of Anthony Gose for Devon Travis was a minor move to everyone outside of Toronto and Detroit, but it could become a major defensive addition for the Tigers. This was a nice move for the Tigers, as Travis would not have seen time at second base with Kinsler around, and his conversion to centerfield wasn't all that promising because of his lack of speed.

Gose, on the other hand, has speed to burn and uses it to his advantage in centerfield. In 2013, Gose played 65 games in center for Toronto. He posted a 7.0 UZR, which translates to a 23.0 UZR if he played 150 games. Gose's speed allowed him to make 100% of the routine plays, 100% of the likely plays and 50% of the even plays in centerfield in 2014. That would have been the best among all centerfielders in baseball. Gose's arm may not be his strongest attribute, but he definitely has a better arm than Rajai Davis.

The final piece of the puzzle up the middle for the Tigers is Alex Avila at catcher. With Avila, the Tigers had the third-best defensive catcher in 2014, as rated by FanGraphs, and sixth, as rated by defensive WAR. Avila does a great job of blocking balls (his three passed balls this season were best in baseball), handling the pitching staff and throwing out runners (his CS% was second in all of baseball).

Overall, the Tigers should be between very good and excellent defensively up the middle in 2015. They should cover a lot of ground in spacious Comerica Park, barring injuries. With the middle so well covered, it also should allow players at the corners to adjust their positioning and reach more balls. Overall, the Tigers should be an improved defensive squad in 2015.