The Houston Dynamo signed midfielder Eric Bird to a first-team contract, the club announced today. Bird played with Dynamo’s USL team, RGV FC, for the last two years.

Bird finished his second season with RGV having played in 29 games and scoring four goals with three assists. The year before, he played in 22 games, scoring six goals and dishing one assist for the Toros. Prior to signing with RGV FC, the 24-year-old was drafted by the Philadelphia Union in the second round of the 2015 MLS SuperDraft and played on loan with the Harrisburg City Islanders.

The Virginia Beach, Virginia native played for the University of Virginia from 2011-14, serving as team captain as a junior and a senior, and helped lead the Cavaliers to the national championship in his senior season. Bird joins the Dynamo first team after signing a short-term agreement with the club earlier in the summer to compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Bird started both games of the Open Cup for the Dynamo.

The hybrid relationship between the Dynamo and RGV FC in which the Dynamo control all aspects of soccer operations, including employment of the technical staff and player selection, while RGV FC manages the business side of the club, was unique in MLS when RGV FC was launched in 2016 and has quickly been emulated by multiple MLS clubs over the past year.

With the addition of Bird, the Dynamo now have 20 players under contract for the 2018 season.

HOUSTON DYNAMO PLAYERS CURRENTLY UNDER CONTRACT

GOALKEEPERS (1) No. Player Pos. MLS Exp. Age Ht. Wt. FIFA Nationality Chris Seitz GK 11 30 6-3 236 USA DEFENDERS (5) No. Player Pos. MLS Exp. Age Ht. Wt. FIFA Nationality 3 Adolfo Machado DF 1 31 6-0 160 Panama 4 Philippe Senderos DF 1 32 6-2 181 Switzerland 15 Dylan Remick DF 5 26 6-0 165 USA 16 Kevin Garcia DF 1 26 6-0 185 USA 21 George Malki DF 1 24 5-10 160 USA 22 Leonardo DF 8 29 6-2 185 Brazil MIDFIELDERS (5) No. Player Pos. MLS Exp. Age Ht. Wt. FIFA Nationality 5 Juan David Cabezas MF 1 25 6-0 175 Colombia 6 Eric Alexander MF 8 29 6-1 165 USA 18 Memo Rodriguez MF 1 21 5-8 145 USA 25 Tomás Martínez MF 1 22 5-9 145 Argentina 27 Boniek García MF 6 33 5-9 150 Honduras 28 Charlie Ward MF 1 22 5-8 168 England Arturo Álvarez MF 12 32 5-9 170 El Salvador Eric Bird MF 1 24 5-9 174 USA FORWARDS (5) No. Player Pos. MLS Exp. Age Ht. Wt. FIFA Nationality 9 Erick Torres FW 5 24 5-11 168 Mexico 11 Andrew Wenger MF 6 26 6-0 185 USA 12 Romell Quioto FW 1 25 5-11 170 Honduras 17 Alberth Elis FW 1 20 6-0 165 Honduras 19 Mauro Manotas FW 3 22 6-0 155 Colombia

TRANSACTIONS: Houston Dynamo sign MF Eric Bird from Rio Grande Valley FC.