Austin Meadows was part of the trade that sent Chris Archer to the Pirates at the 2018 Trade Deadline, and the young Outfielder is showing the skills to be the top player of the transaction.

Meadows became an All-Star in 2019 on the strength of a 32 Home Run/.291/.346/.558 year where he was 14^thin MVP voting. Meadows helped Tampa reach the World Series the following year, and in 2021, Meadows was a large part of the team that went back to the playoffs, as he had 27 Home Runs and 106 RBIs, although he had a less-than-desirable Batting Average (.235), and On Base Percentage (.315).  Tampa dealt Meadows to the Tigers during 2020 Spring Training, ending his run in the state of Florida.

With the Rays, Meadows had 308 Hits with 65 Home Runs.

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.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Tampa Bay Rays. 

Entering the American League as an expansion team in 1998, the Rays were originally the “Devil Rays”, before dropping the demonic portion of their name in 2008.  Saddled in the ultra-competitive American League East, Tampa has managed to make the playoffs five times, including an American League Pennant in 2008.  They have yet to win the World Series to date. 

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 American League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2019 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Evan Longoria

2. Carl Crawford

3. Ben Zobrist

4. David Price

5. Kevin Kiermaier

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our All-Time Top 50 Boston Red Sox coming next!

As always we thank you for your support.

Tommy Pham was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals at the 2018 trading deadline, and at the time, he was batting .248.  With the Rays, he finished the season batting .343, with a Slugging Percentage of .622.  Pham played the entire 2019 season at Leftfield for the Ray, belting 21 Home Runs with 25 Stolen Bases with a .273 Batting Average.

Steven Souza Jr. played three of his five Major League seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he showed decent power.  Souza Jr. had 16 and 17 Home Runs in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and he would nearly double that with a 30 Home Run year in 2017.  As good as his power was, he never batted over .250, and his defense was just average.

Willy Adames was traded early in his fourth MLB season from Tampa to Milwaukee, and it remans to be seen whether this is a transaction that the Rays will regret in the future.

A Tampa Bay Ray for the first six seasons of his career, Jake McGee debuted in the Majors in 2010.  The southpaw only played eight Games for the parent club that year, but he managed to hurl more innings in 2011, and by 2012 he was a permanent player in the Rays bullpen.  From 2012 to 2014, McGee appeared in at least 69 Games, peaking with a 19 Save and 1.89 ERA year in 2014. 

In the up and down career of Fernando Rodney, the two seasons that the Dominican closer spent in Tampa Bay were mostly up.   

Jake Odorizzi played two Games with the Kansas City Royals in 2012, and he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2013 season.  He played in the minors for most of that year, and he became a part of Tampa's starting rotation the season after.   That year, with his four-seam fastball, he would go 11-13 with a 4.13 ERA and was eighth in American League Rookie of the Year voting.

Sean Rodriguez was a bona fide utility player in every sense of the word.  He suited up at Second, Third, Short, First, and in the Outfield, and he could be plugged in anywhere to suit the defensive needs of the Rays.  In his first season in Tampa, he was fifth in the American League in Defensive bWAR (2.3).  He would play with the Rays until he was traded to the Pirates after the 2014 season.  Rodriguez never had 400 At Bats in a season with Tampa, but his overall value with his glove made him a player that Tampa wanted to keep for five years.

Before his arrival to Tampa, Greg Vaughn had three 40 plus seasons of Home Runs.  While this was late in his career, and the Outfielder would still have pop in his bat and would go to his fourth and final All-Star Game in 2001 as a Ray.

From Japan, Akinori Iwamura played for years with the Yakult Swallows before he joined the Tampa Bay Rays in the Majors.  Iwamura played at Second Base and Third Base and had 140 Hits as a Major League rookie in 2007.  Iwamura had a better second season in the NL, with 172 Hits, and he would do well until the next year, where his age and injuries caught up to him.

An eighth round pick in 2007, Matt Moore was called up late in 2011 and was called up late in 2011.  He only played three Games for Tampa that regular season, he was on the post-season roster, winning a game in the playoffs. 

There were two Pitchers named Roberto Hernandez, who threw for the Rays.  This "Roberto Hernandez" was the first one with that name and by far the best one.

Toby Hall made his Major League debut in Tampa in 2000, where the Catcher appeared in four games.  Hall would progressively play more in the next two seasons for the Rays, and he would play at least 119 Games each year from 2003 to 2005.  Hall was not the best hitter, as he struggled to get his On Base Percentage to .300, but he was solid defensively.  He was in the top five Runners Caught Stealing, and in 2005, he was first in Defensive bWAR.  Hall left Tampa when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the summer of 2006.

If you just look at the back of a baseball card, the Major League career of Rolando Arrojo looks like a one-year wonder.  That is true, but there is a lot more to digest with the Cuban defector.

Known for his four-seam fastball and slider, Scott Kazmir fanned many batters in a Tampa Bay Ray uniform.  

Carlos Pena would play 14 seasons in the Majors with the best run of her career coming with the Rays.  It was especially noteworthy, considering that it happened when most pundits wrote him off the game entirely.

James Shields made his Major League debut for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2006, and he would play there until 2012.  Starting 217 of his 218 Games, a Ray, Shields became an upper-end starter and certified innings eater for the team.

Julio Lugo played for Tampa after the Houston Astros released him early in the 2003 Season.  It turned out to benefit both Lugo and the Rays, as he would be their starting Shortstop for the next three seasons.

Desmond Jennings played all seven of his seasons in the Majors with the Tampa Bay Rays, first debuting in 2010.