MLB’s 25 Most Improved Players Prospects for 2016 Momentum

#23. Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees

2015 WAR: 3.8
2014 WAR: 1.0
WAR Improvement: 2.8

Mark Teixeira might as well stand up and scream to the world that he’s due for some serious regression. Even if he chooses to remain silent and enjoy the last year of his contract with the New York Yankees, the numbers are already doing the talking.

Isolated power (ISO) subtracts batting average from slugging percentage to look, as the name indicates, solely at the power aspect of a player’s profile at the plate. Teixeira didn’t just flourish in the category with a .293 ISO; he actually set a new high-water mark for his entire career — topping the .279 ISO he posted in 2004 with the Texas Rangers.

Teixeira thrived because he managed to launch 31 bombs over MLB fences, breaking into the 30s for the first time since 2011. And it’s this that’s most unsustainable since the slugger didn’t manage to make hard contact on an inordinately large percentage of his swings. Instead, he benefited from a career-best home run to fly ball ratio (HR/FB) of 23.5. As that regresses to his lifetime average of 18.3, so will his overall value.