The Detroit Tigers have improved defensively this season thanks in large part to the individual strides made by Nick Castellanos.
In 145 games at third base last season, the rookie recorded minus-30 defensive runs saved, the worst mark of any Major League player. He had the second-worst UZR (minus-18.4) in baseball.
Through roughly one-third as many innings in 2015, his DRS and UZR are 0 and 1.7, respectively.
If he's able to remain average over the remainder of the season, Castellanos will have completed one of the most dramatic statistical turnarounds on record.
In the past 10 years, only Ian Kinsler (2009) and Matt Kemp (2011) have improved their DRS by 30 runs in consecutive seasons of at least 1,000 innings played at the same position.
"Last year, everything was brand new," Castellanos said. "All the fields were brand new. The players were brand new. How our pitching staff attacked hitters was brand new. I had to learn that all on the fly, while learning a new position. So the game definitely got fast for me a little bit over there sometimes."