There are not a lot of players like Byron Buxton.

Buxton first appeared for the Twins in 2015, three years after he was taken with the Second Overall Pick.  Buxton was considered a five-tool player, but that was not the case in the Majors, though he has showed series of doing all of those things at different periods of time.

Buxton’s defense was stellar in 2017, a year where he led the American League in Total Zone Runs (29), was second in Defensive bWAR (2.6) and won the Wilson Overall Defensive Player.  Offensively, he only had 117 Hits, but received MVP votes (18^th overall), and was a star on the rise; or so we thought.

He dealt with copious injuries, and was returned to the Minors, but was able to come back with another defensive gem year; the COVID-shortened 2020 year where he was first in Defensive bWAR (1.2).  Buxton again battle injuries late in 2022, but still blasted 28 Home Runs in less than 100 Games, while appearing in his first All-Star Game.

Buxton enters 2025 with only one year of 100 Hits, though has been an All-Star (not in that year) and won multiple fielding awards, and is now a top power hitter.  This is a statistical ESPN 30-for-30 player.

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.