There are not many players like Byron Buxton.

Byron Buxton first took the field for Minnesota in 2015, a mere three years after the organization made him the second overall pick in the draft. Entering the league with the heavy expectations of a five-tool phenom, he has spent his decade in the Twin Cities oscillating between historic brilliance and frustrating physical setbacks.

In 2017, he established himself as an elite fly-catcher. That season, he reached a significant milestone by leading the American League with 29 Total Zone Runs and ranking second in Defensive bWAR at 2.6. His mastery of center field earned him the Wilson Overall Defensive Player award and his first Gold Glove. Although his offensive stats were modest with 117 hits, his exceptional glove and speed made a notable impact, earning him MVP votes and finishing 18th overall, marking the emergence of a key star.

The journey hit a critical point when injuries interrupted his playing time, leading to occasional stints in the minor leagues. Despite this, he demonstrated remarkable resilience during the 2020 season, leading the league with a Defensive bWAR of 1.2 during the shortened season. In 2022, he achieved a new personal best in power hitting, smashing 28 home runs in fewer than 100 games, a pace that earned him his first All-Star selection.

Heading into 2026, Buxton has compiled a statistical profile defined by elite defensive metrics and a burgeoning power stroke that defies traditional volume.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022 revision of our top 50 New York Mets.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, New York made it to the playoffs, though were bounced in the Wild Card round.  The 2022 season saw one huge rise, and two new entries.

As always, we present our top five, which had no changes.

1. Tom Seaver

2. Dwight Gooden                  

3. Jacob deGrom

4. David Wright

5. Darryl Strawberry

You can find the entire list here.

Notably, deGrom, who played for the Mets last season before signing with Texas as a Free Agent, did not do enough to move up from #3.

Power hitter, Pete Alonso, rocketed up from #49 to #24, and could make an eventual run for a top five spot.

Jeff McNeil debuts at #27, a reflection of his 2022 Season and the closeness of those in the bottom 25.

The other new entry is Outfielder, Brandon Nimmo, who enters at #35.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

We have another significant retirement in the National Football League as New England Patriots Safety, Devin McCourty, has announced his retirement from the NFL after a 12-year career.  He made the announcement on an Instagram post.

From Rutgers, the Pats used their 2010 First Round Pick (27^th Overall) to select McCourty, who never played for another pro team.  Winning three Super Bowls in New England, McCourty dressed in 205 Games (5^th in team history), recorded 35 Interceptions (3^rd in team history), and amassed 982 Tackles.

Originally playing at Cornerback, McCourty switched to Safety and was named a team captain as early as his second year.  A beloved teammate and community leader, McCourty was a two-time Pro Bowl Selection, and was twice a Second Team All-Pro.

McCourty is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2028, though is unlikely to enter.  In our pre-2022 NFL HOF Active Monitor, McCourty was ranked #108 Overall and #7 among Safeties.  Canton may not come calling, but his resume of worthy of a spot in the New England Patriots Hall of Fame.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Devin McCourty the best in his post-playing career.

We lost another legend in the world of Pro Football with the passing of former Vikings Head Coach, Bud Grant, who passed away at the age of 95.

Playing professionally in Philadelphia and Winnipeg in the CFL, Bud Grant went into coaching, first in Canada for the Blue Bombers where he won four Grey Cups.  That type of success will get you noticed, and the closest NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings signed him as their Head Coach in 1967.

Grant is still as of this writing the most successful Head Coach in Vikings history, winning the Coach of the Year in 1969, and leading Minnesota to four Super Bowl appearances.  The Vikings did not win any of them, but they would not have gotten there without Grant, whose innovations and vision made Minnesota one of the most recognized franchises in the NFL.

Grant, who is also in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, had an overall NFL record of 158-96-5.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the fans, friends and family of Bud Grant.