Guillen and Infante make a solid double-play combo Following is the third in a series of weekly stories on MLB.com examining each Major League club, position-by-position. Each Wednesday until Spring Training c amps open, we'll preview a different position. Today: Middle infielders. Two years ago, the Tigers thought they might have the double-play combo of the future with Omar Infante and Ramon Santiago. It backfired so strongly that they went the opposite direction last year with a veteran duo of Carlos Guillen and Fernando Vina. Now, they might have finally found the perfect middle ground. With Guillen and Infante together much of the season, the Tigers not only enjoy ed one of their best performances from a middle infield duo since the days of T rammell and Whitaker, they also had two of the least expected breakout seasons in the American League. One came from a vastly underrated veteran essentially d ished off by his old club heading into a contract year. The other came from a y oungster who had nearly played himself out of prospect status. Together, they stand as the best middle infield pairing in the AL Central, and they could rank among the best in the league this side of Texas. No Major Leagu e duo with enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title posted a hig her combined OPS than their 1.687 total -- Guillen at .921, Infante at .766. Am ong AL teams, only the Rangers and White Sox had starting middle infields with more home runs apiece, and Chicago broke up its duo when Jose Valentin signed w ith the Dodgers. Whether they can match or even improve upon those numbers will be one of the de termining factors toward whether the Tigers can move closer to or above .500 in 2005. The obvious lingering question is whether last season was merely the confluence of two career years or the start of a career surge for both of them. As Guille n pounded away at AL pitching last season -- no Tiger had ever posted a .300 ba tting average, 30 doubles, 10 triples, 20 homers and 10 steals all in the same year -- he insisted his emergence as an All-Star was simply a matter of staying healthy for the first time in his big league career. But beyond that, he seemi ngly thrived as a focal point on a team instead of languishing in the backgroun d on a veteran ballclub like he did with the Mariners over his previous five se asons. Facing free agency at season's end probably didn't hinder him, either. Injury questions will face him again upon returning to Tigers training camp in a few weeks. He missed the final three weeks of the season after tearing the AC L in his right knee and has spent much of the winter rehabbing it at home in Ve nezuela. Though team officials expect he'll be ready for Opening Day, manager A lan Trammell doesn't plan to play him much in Spring Training, and the possibil ity of moving him to third lingered this offseason. That became a real chance i n December when the Tigers attempted to woo free agent Edgar Renteria. Not only is Infante healthy, by contrast, but he's spending his winter hitting up another storm in the Venezuelan League. The question is whether the work eth ic and concentration he displayed in 2004 was a one-year anomaly or the sign of a young hitter growing up. Having a role model around in fellow Venezuelan Gui llen was credited with Infante's crash-course maturation. It was a major reason the 22-year-old was kept on the team as a utility infielder out of Spring Trai ning in the first place, allowing him to step in at second base and make an imm ediate impact when Vina, the Opening Day starter, went on the disabled list in early May with a strained hamstring. Beyond that, most Tigers officials believe Infante's offensive punch comes from his strength and maturity at the plate. He became more aggressive with his swi ng from Spring Training on, and he was able to drive fastballs over the fence t hat he might have slapped into the gap earlier in his career. That so much of h is power came late in the year, especially in September, made him one of the br ightest spots of the home stretch and proved he could adjust to pitchers. That aggressiveness came at a price, though, with as many strikeouts (29) as hits an d just four walks, totals he'll have to improve in order to jump up near the to p of the batting order full-time. The only part of their games prettier than the offensive statistics is the flai r with which they turned double plays last year. While Guillen is a deceptively steady fielder with solid range and a cannon arm, Infante has a flashy, Alomar -type presence at second. With time, they've learned to turn double plays as qu ickly or more than the renowned Vina and his lightning-quick relay throws. While Alfonso Soriano and Michael Young will undoubtedly garner much of the att ention again for middle infield pairings, with solid attention given the new du o of Renteria and Mark Bellhorn in Boston, Guillen and Infante will go back to work in relative obscurity. But with Guillen starting a new three-year contract and Infante two seasons away from arbitration, this grouping could become a lo ng-term fixture in Detroit. And with another season like 2004, they'll be hard to ignore. --

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