by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, May 23, 2017

LA Galaxy/LA Galaxy II (3 seasons)

NY Red Bulls/NY Red Bulls II (2 seasons)

Real Salt Lake/Real Monarchs

(2 seasons)

Montreal Impact/Montreal Impact B (2 seasons-disbanded)

Toronto FC/Toronto FC B

(2 seasons)

Vancouver Whitecaps/Whitecaps FC 2

(2 seasons)

Philadelphia Union/Bethlehem Steel

(1 season)

Seattle Sounders 2/Sounders 2

(2 seasons)

Portland Timbers/Timbers FC 2

(2 seasons)

Houston Dynamo/Rio Grande Valley FC (1 season)

Sporting KC/Swope Park Rangers

(1 season)

Orlando City/Orlando City B (1 season)

While a lot of attention has been given to the influx of players signed to DP contracts or on TAM deals, MLS clubs that launched USL second teams are beginning to get mileage out of players they promoted.The New York Red Bulls midfielder, who is starting for the U.S. U-20s in South Korea, Montreal's 18-year-old Ivorian,and Toronto FC first-year sensationare just a few of the examples of players signed from USL second teams who are having big seasons.Almost a quarter of all minutes played by LA Galaxy players come from players it signed from LA Galaxy II, which is in its fourth season. USL signings account for more than 10 percent of the minutes played at two other MLS clubs -- the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake.USL second teams allow MLS teams to cast a wider net and sign a larger group of players than are allowed under MLS roster rules (maximum of 28 players), and MLS teams are starting to promote the best of them to their first teams, using the league's USL Priority Player rule (priority rights to up to three players from USL affiliate).USL second teams are also important to MLS teams in smaller markets, where the pool of youth prospects is limited, and teams interested in taking flyers on young foreign talent not yet good enough to merit an international roster spot on the first team.The trend will be for clubs to push academy players up their USL teams so they see them earlier in a pro environment. That was the case with Adams, who was still in high school when the Red Bulls first signed him to a USL contract, the Philadelphia Union's, who is also representing the USA at the Under-20 World Cup, and Portland's, who was still in high school when he was signed after a season with T2, the Timbers' second team.NCAA rules allow academy players to play for pro teams as amateurs, so they don't jeopardize their potential college eligibility. Farfan initially planned on attending the University of Portland before signing with the Timbers last fall. Real Salt Lake'ssigned as a Homegrown player out of UCLA after playing for Real Monarchs before his freshman season.In a few cases, USL second teams have offered young players a second chance.(LA Galaxy) and(Houston) lost their MLS contracts but got them back after solid play in the USL. Veteranrehabbed with Real Monarchs before rejoining Real Salt Lake.One other factor is at work: the bottom line. The vast majority of USL signings are playing on senior minimum salaries ($65,000 in 2017) or reserve minimum salaries ($53,000) and are off-budget, i.e. not on the senior roster of up to 20 players who count against the salary cap.990 Daniel Steres (1 goal)464 Nathan Smith450 Clement Diop413 Bradley Diallo357 Dave Romney (1 goal, 1 assist)276 *Jack McBean (1 assist)4 Ariel Lassiter3 Jaime Villarreal*Re-signed in 2016.2,957 minutes1170 Aaron Long615 Tyler Adams1,785 minutes810 *Chris Schuler341 Danilo Acosta123 Jose Hernandez194 Ricardo Velazco*Re-signed in 2016.1,468 minutes646 Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla (2 goals, 1 assist)5 David Choiniere651 minutes634 Raheem Edwards (4 assists)634 minutes422 Alphonso Davies90 Spencer Richey2 Kyle Greig514 minutes467 Derrick Jones467 minutes398 Jordy Delem (1 assist)398 minutes355 Marco Farfan27 Victor Arboleda382 minutes121 Kevin Garcia16 *Memo Rodriguez*Re-signed in 2017.137 minutes.45 Tyler Pasher45 minutes3 Tony Rocha1 Pierre Da Silva4 minutes