Major League Soccer will wrap up the 2019 edition of SuperDraft with the third and fourth rounds starting at 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. As in past years, this will be done by conference call and should not take more than a couple of hours.
The Revolution are scheduled to make two picks today: 57th overall (ninth pick of the third round) and 81st overall (ninth pick of the fourth round). The Revs already selected Tajon Buchanan with the ninth overall selection Friday, followed by DeJuan Jones two picks later.
Players selected in these rounds may only see time during this summer’s U.S. Open Cup competition instead of league minutes. For example: Revs fourth-round pick Nico Samayoa started as the club’s right center back against Louisville City on June 5 last year, and it was his only playing time in a New England shirt.
While many consider these rounds to be worthless, a team that makes an extended run in The Cup can use these picks to give the usual first-teamers at certain positions a breather for those mid-week clashes. At any rate, clubs are prepared for that inevitability with these picks.
Many Revolution fans — heck, MLS fans as a whole — do not consider the draft to be worth much; Philadelphia traded its entire 2019 draft to Cincinnati, Mike Ditka style, late Wednesday. Their arguments are sound. I won’t argue that. They also argue that with MLS Academies producing more talent, that clubs should concentrate more on developing players there. That is fair.
However, it is also short-sighted.
What about the players who don’t have the luxury of living near an MLS city? There are some damn good soccer players out there who aren’t from Boston, New York, Houston, etc., who are too old to have taken part in any of the league’s Residential Academies. Many of those programs are still in their relative infancy (newsflash: the Revs started one last year). Thinking that a player is not worth an MLS contract because he didn’t have access to an MLS Academy in his formative years is short-sighted and unfair to that player.
Players like a Robbie Mertz, a Pittsburgh native who played for the University of Michigan. Pittsburgh isn’t an MLS city. No MLS Academy. Kid’s a stud. You think he’s worthless?
Or a Geoffrey Dee? From small-town Germantown, Tenn. Until next year — not an MLS market.
How about Brad Dunwell? Grand Rapids, Mich. No MLS in Detroit.
Sebastian Elney. Boca Raton. Not an MLS market until 2020-21.
I’ve watched all of them. All four are talented. All four deserve a shot at making $56,000-plus — the Reserve Roster minimum — for their talent, and for at least one game minimum in their rookie season. Even if it's just for one year, all their hard work and their parents' sacrifices will have been worth it -- and I doubt they care about your thoughts about SuperDraft's "worthiness" in your eyes.
This is why we still have the draft.
___________________