Here’s how it works:

By looking at the stat of total appearances, we looked at every player picked in the first round from 2000 to 2015 (there were a few players that we could not find data for. We’ve omitted those players).

We categorized the players into four levels of success – exceptional, solid, poor and failure. An exceptional player appeared in at least 75 per cent of games over their career (to allow us to compare the older drafts, we considered six seasons to be a typical career and 30 games to be a typical season – i.e. players drafted from 2000 to 2006 were expected to have appeared in 75 per cent of 180 games). Solid players appeared in 50 to 74 per cent of games, poor picks appeared in 25 to 49 per cent and failures appeared in less than 25 per cent.

2001-2010 More than 134 (exceptional), 90-134 (solid), 45-89 (poor), less than 45 (failure)

2011 – More than 112 (exceptional), 75-112 (solid), 38-74 (poor), less than 38 (failure)

2012 – More than 89 (exceptional), 60-89 (solid), 30-59 (poor), less than 30 (failure)

2013 – More than 67 (exceptional), 45-67 (solid), 23-66 (poor), less than 23 (failure)

2014 – More than 44 (exceptional), 30-44 (solid), 15-43 (poor), less than 15 (failure)

2015 – More than 22 (exceptional), 15-22 (solid), 8-14 (poor), less than 8 (failure)

For this update we added an additional category of “franchise player” – that is a player that played the equivalent of 75 percent of games over 10 seasons (only players drafted prior to 2006 eligible).

Are appearances the best measure? Probably. Although, it does take any subjective evaluation out of the equation – we don’t distinguish a MLS all-star from a plumber – it is the only stat that transcends all positions. You either play or you don’t and if you are playing then you are a MLS quality player, period.

The goal is to find players, right? Especially if we acknowledge that there aren’t many stars available in the draft now. It’s pretty well established that the biggest advantage of the draft now is to find depth players. So, appearances works.

We restricted the analysis to the first round because the numbers for the second round on are, frankly, absurdly bad. A non-first round pick is essentially a ticket to the lottery and nothing more. Unlike other sports there is no evidence of any single club consistently finding useful pieces beyond the first round.

Here are the results:

Bold indicates exceptional pick, italics failure

2000

1 - Steve Shak – 22 (age in draft year) – 38 (appearances) – New York - Failure

2 - Nick Garcia – 21 – 296 – Kansas City – Exceptional/franchise

3 - Adin Brown – 22 – 85 – Colorado - Poor

4 - Carlos Bocanegra – 21 – 87 - Chicago - Poor

5 - Aleksey Korol – 22 – 40 – Dallas - Failure

6 - Danny Califf – 20 – 186 - Los Angeles - Exceptional

7 - Wes Hart – 23 – 92 – Colorado - Solid

8 - Travis Mulraine – 23 – 15 – San Jose - Failure

9 - John Wilson – 23 – 32 – Kansas City – Failure

10 - Alan Woods – 22 – 19 – Colorado – Failure

11 - Sasha Victorine – 22 – 239 – Los Angeles – Exceptional

12 - Bobby Convey – 17 – 164 - DC United – Exceptional

Total – 12 picks.

Average appearances – 108 - solid

Median appearances – 86

Average age of picks: 21.5

Exceptional picks: 4

Solid picks: 3

Poor picks: 2

Failures: 3

Top 5 Ave: 96

Franchise players: 1 - Nick Garcia (2nd overall), Kansas City

2001

1 - Chris Carrieri – 21 – 70 – San Jose – poor

2 - Ali Curtis – 23 – 50 – Tampa Bay – poor

3 - Mark Lisi – 24 – 120 – DC United – solid

4 - Ryan Nelsen – 24 – 81 - DC United – poor

5 - Joselito Velasco – 19 – 94 - Dallas – solid

6 - Craig Demmin – 30 -19 – Tampa – failure

7 - Ryan Suarez – 24 -75 – Dallas -- poor

8 - Santino Quaranta – 17 -180 – DC United – exceptional

9 - Brian Mullan – 23 – 273 Los Angeles – exceptional/franchise

10 - Duncan Oughton – 24 – 136 – Columbus – exceptional

11 - Isaias Bardales Jr – 22 – 12 – Los Angeles – failure

12 - José Luis Burciaga – 19 – 127 – Kansas City – solid

Total – 12 picks.

Average appearances: 103 - solid

Median appearances: 87.5

Average age of picks: 22.5

Exceptional picks: 3

Solid picks: 3

Poor picks: 4

Failures: 2

Ave top 5: 83 – poor

Franchise players: 1 – Brian Mullan (9th overall), Galaxy

2002

1 - Chris Gbandi – 23 – 111 – Dallas – solid

2 - Taylor Twellman – 22 – 174 - New England – exceptional

3 - Brad Davis – 20 – 271 – New York – exceptional/franchise

4 - Justin Mapp – 18 – 223 - DC United – exceptional

5 - Kelly Gray – 21 – 167 – Chicago – exceptional

6 - Luchi Gonzalez – 22 – 30 – San Jose – failure

7 - Kyle Martino – 21 – 141 – Columbus – exceptional

8 - Carl Bussey – 22 – 9 – Dallas – failure

9 - Daouda Kante – 22 – 26 – DC United – failure

Total – 12 picks (no stats for three players).

Average appearances: 96– solid

Median appearances: 154

Average age of picks: 21.2

Exceptional picks: 5

Solid picks: 1

Poor picks: 0

Failures: 3

Top 5 Ave: 189.2 – exceptional

Franchise Players: 1 – Brad Davis (3rd overall) , New York

2003

1 - Alecko Eskandarian – 21 – 125 – DC United – solid

2 - Ricardo Clark – 20 – 185 – New York – exceptional

3 - Nate Jaqua – 22 – 193 – Chicago – exceptional

4 - Mike Magee – 19 – 286 – New York – exceptional/franchise

5 - David Stokes – 21 – 24 – DC United – failure

6 - Todd Dunivant – 22 – 284 – San Jose – exceptional/franchise

7 - Diego Walsh – 19 – 30 – Columbus – poor

8 - Guillermo Gonzalez – 17 – 12 – Los Angeles – failure

9 - Pat Noonan – 23 – 208 – New England – exceptional

10 - Shavar Thomas – 22 – 174 – Dallas – exceptional

Total – 10 picks.

Average appearances: 127 – solid

Median appearances: 173

Average age of picks: 20.6

Exceptional picks: 6

Solid picks: 1

Poor picks: 0

Failures: 3

Ave top 5: 162.6 – exceptional

Franchise players: 2 – Mike McGee (4th overall), New York; Todd Dunivant (6th overall), San Jose

2004

1 - Freddy Adu – 15 – 133- DC United - solid

2 - Chad Marshall – 20 – 308 – Columbus – exceptional/franchise

3 - Joseph Ngwenya – 23 – 118 – Los Angeles - solid

4 - Matthew Taylor – 23 – 54 - Kansas City - poor

5 - Ryan Cochrane – 21 – 172 – San Jose - exceptional

6 - Ramón Núñez – 18 – 75- Dallas - poor

7 - Clarence Goodson – 22 – 118 – Dallas - solid

8 - Clint Dempsey – 21 – 126- New England - solid

9 - Scott Buete – 24 – 21 – Chicago - failure

10 - Steve Cronin – 21 – 86 – San Jose - poor

Total – 10 picks.

Average appearances: 111.5 – solid

Median appearances: 80.5

Average age of picks: 20.8

Exceptional picks: 2

Solid picks: 4

Poor picks: 2

Failures: 1

Top 5 average: 157 – exceptional

Franchise players: 1 – Ryan Cochrane (5th overall), San Jose

2005

1 - Nikolas Besagno – 16 – 8 – Salt Lake – Failure

2 - Brad Guzan – 21 – 79- Chivas - poor

3 - Chad Barrett – 20 – 255 – Chicago – exceptional/franchise

4 - Danny O'Rourke – 22 – 189 – San Jose – exceptional

5 - Ugo Ihemelu – 22 – 186 – Los Angeles – exceptional

6 - Drew Moor – 21- 304 – Dallas – exceptional/franchise

7 - Hunter Freeman – 20 – 126 – Colorado – solid

8 - Troy Roberts – 22 – 61 – Los Angeles – poor

9 - Michael Parkhurst – 21 – 181 - New England – exceptional

10 - Jack Stewart – 22 – 39 – Chicago- poor

11 - Scott Sealy – 24 – 144 – Kansas City – exceptional

12 - Tim Ward – 18 – 71 – New York – poor

Total – 12 picks.

Average appearances: 136.9 – exceptional

Median appearances: 109

Average age of picks: 20.75

Exceptional picks: 6

Solid picks: 1

Poor picks: 4

Failures: 1

Ave top 5: 143.4 – exceptional

Franchise players: 2 – Chad Barrett (3rd overall), Chicago; Drew Moor (6th overall), Dallas

2006

1 - Marvell Wynne – 19 – 265 – New York – exceptional

2 - Mehdi Ballouchy – 22 – 211 – Salt Lake – exceptional

3 - Jason Garey – 21-97 – Columbus - solid

4 - Yura Movsisyan – 18 – 81 – Kansas City - poor

5 - Sacha Kljestan – 19 – 147- Chivas – exceptional

6 - Dax McCarty – 18 – 248 – Dallas – exceptional/franchise

7 - Justin Moose – 21 – 8 – DC United – poor

8 - Patrick Ianni – 20 – 130 – Houston – solid

9 - Kei Kamara – 21 – 225 – Columbus – exceptional

10 - Calen Carr – 23 – 117 – Chicago – solid

11 - Nathan Sturgis – 18 – 141 – Los Angeles – exceptional

Total – 12 picks (no stats on one player)

Average appearances: 128.8 – solid

Median appearances: 106

Average age of picks: 20

Exceptional picks: 5

Solid picks: 5

Poor picks: 2

Failures: 1

Top 5 Ave.: 160.2 – exceptional

Franchise players: N/A

2007 –

1 - Maurice Edu – 20 – 90 – Toronto – solid

2 - Bakary Soumaré – 20 – 125 – Chicago – solid

3 - Michael Harrington – 20 – 221 – Kansas City – exceptional

4 - Chris Seitz – 19 – 64 – Salt Lake - poor

5 - Wells Thompson – 22 – 158 – New England - exceptional

6 - Nico Colaluca – 20 – 11 – Colorado – failure

7 - John Cunliffe – 25 – 27 – Chivas – failure

8 - Jerson Monteiro – 21 – 5 – Chicago – Failure

9 - Anthony Wallace – 17 – 44- Dallas – failure

10 - Andrew Boyens – 23 – 70 – Toronto - poor

11 - Bryan Arguez – 17 – 0 – DC United – failure

12 - Amaechi Igwe – 18 – 22 – New England – failure

13 - John Michael Hayden – 23 – 18 – Houston – failure

Total – 13 picks.

Average appearances: 65.7 - poor

Median appearances: 31.5

Average age of picks: 20.4

Exceptional picks: 2

Solid picks: 2

Poor picks: 2

Failures: 7

Top 5 Ave: 131.6 - solid

Franchise Players: N/A

2008 -- HOMEGROWN RULE STARTS

1 - Chance Myers – 19 – 133 – Kansas City – solid

2 - Brek Shea – 17 – 117 – Dallas – solid

3 - Tony Beltran – 20 – 190 – Salt Lake – exceptional

4 - Sean Franklin – 22 – 208 – Los Angeles – exceptional

5 - Ciaran O'Brien – 19 – 1 – Colorado – failure

6 - Andy Iro – 22 – 71 – Columbus – poor

7 - Patrick Nyarko – 21 – 196 – Chicago – Exceptional

8 - Josh Lambo – 16 – 0 – Dallas- failure

9 - Julius James – 23 – 94 – Toronto – solid

10 - Pat Phelan – 22 – 80 – Toronto – poor

11 - Roger Espinoza – 21 – 130 – Kansas City solid

12 - Dominic Cervi – 21 – 0 - Chicago – failure

13 - Rob Valentino – 21 – 0 – New England – failure

14 - David Horst – 22 – 19 – Salt Lake – failure

Total – 14 picks.

Average appearances: 88.5 - poor

Median appearances: 74.5

Average age of picks: 20.4

Exceptional picks: 3

Solid picks: 4

Poor picks: 2

Failures: 5

Ave top 5: 129.8 – solid

Franchise players: N/A

2009

1 - Steve Zakuani – 21 – 97 – Seattle – solid

2- Sam Cronin – 22 – 199 – Toronto – exceptional

3 - Omar Gonzalez – 21 – 180 – Los Angeles – exceptional

4 - O'Brian White – 23 – 40 – Toronto - poor

5 - Peri Marošević – 20 – 11 – Dallas - poor

6 - Rodney Wallace – 21 – 159 – DC United – exceptional

7 - Chris Pontius – 22 – 152 – DC United – exceptional

8 - Matt Besler – 22 – 179 – Kansas City – exceptional

9 - Michael Lahoud – 23 – 122 – Chivas - solid

10 - Kevin Alston – 21 – 148 – New England – exceptional

11 - Jeremy Hall – 21 – 88 – New York- poor

12 - Jean-Marc Alexandre – 23 – 40 – Salt Lake – failure

13 - Stefan Frei – 23 – 140 – Toronto – exceptional

14 - George John – 22 – 119 – Dallas – solid

Total – 15 picks (Stats missing on one player).

Average appearances: 110.4 - solid

Median appearances: 66.5

Average age of picks: 21.8

Exceptional picks: 7

Solid picks: 3

Poor picks: 3

Failures: 1

Top 5 Ave: 105.4 – solid

Franchise players: N/A

2010

1 - Danny Mwanga – 19 – 102 – Philly – solid

2 - Tony Tchani – 21 – 151 – New York – exceptional

3 - Ike Opara – 21 – 63 – San Jose - poor

4 - Teal Bunbury – 20 – 149 – Kansas City – exceptional

5 - Zach Loyd – 23 – 163 – Dallas – exceptional

6 - Amobi Okugo – 19 – 134 – Philly – solid

7 - Jack McInerney – 18 – 143 – Philly – exceptional

8 - Dilly Duka – 21 – 117 – Columbus – solid

9 - Zack Schilawski – 23 – 50 – New England – poor

10 - Blair Gavin – 21 – 43 – Chivas – failure

11 - David Estrada – 22 – 50 – Seattle - poor

12 - Bright Dike – 23 – 34 – Columbus – failure

13 - Corben Bone – 22 – 20 – Chicago – failure

14 - Austin da Luz – 23 – 21 – New York – failure

15 - Collen Warner – 22 – 136 – Salt Lake – exceptional

16 - Michael Stephens – 21 – 116 – Los Angeles - solid

Total – 16 picks.

Average appearances: 93.25 – solid

Median appearances: 35.5

Average age of picks: 21.2

Exceptional picks: 4

Solid picks: 4

Poor picks: 2

Failures: 4

Ave top 5: 125.6

Franchise players: N/A

1 - Omar Salgado – 18 – 26 – Vancouver – failure

2 - Darlington Nagbe – 21 – 160 – Portland – exceptional

3 - Perry Kitchen – 19 – 158 – DC United – exceptional

4 - Zarek Valentin – 20 – 40 – Chivas - poor

5 - Zac MacMath – 20 – 106 – Philly – solid

6 - A. J. Soares – 22 – 108 – New England – solid

7 - Kofi Sarkodie – 20 – 98 – Houston – solid

8 - Michael Nanchoff – 23 – 22 – Vancouver – failure

9 - Jalil Anibaba – 23 – 128 – Chicago – exceptional

10 - C. J. Sapong – 22 – 134 – Kansas City – exceptional

11 - Will Bruin – 22 – 137 – Houston – exceptional

12 - Rich Balchan – 22 – 23 – Columbus – failure

13 - Corey Hertzog – 21 – 12 – New York – failure

14 - Víctor Mairongo – 23 – 9 – Chivas – failure

15 - Justin Meram – 121 – 17 – Columbus – failure

16 - Paolo Cardozo – 22 – 27 – Los Angeles – failure

17 - Bobby Warshaw – 22 – 32 – Dallas – failure

18 - Eddie Ababio – 23 – 0 – Colorado – failure

Total – 18 picks.

Average appearances: 68.7 - poor

Median appearances: 17.5

Average age of picks: 20.1

Exceptional picks: 5

Solid picks: 3

Poor picks: 1

Failures: 9

Top 5 Ave: 98 – solid

Franchise players: N/A

2012

1. Andrew Wenger - Montreal 22-- 105 – Exceptional

2. Darren Mattocks - Vancouver – 22 - 93 – Exceptional

3. Kelyn Rowe - New Eng - 21- 123 – Exceptional

4. Luis Silva – Toronto- 24 - 108 - Exceptional

5. Casey Townsand - Chivas -23- 26 –failure

6. Sam Garza - San Jose -23-- 12 – Failure

7. Nick DeLeon - DCU -22- 109 - Exceptional

8. Andrew Jean-Baptiste -20- PDX - 41 – poor

9. Austin Berry - Chicago -24- 68 - solid

10. Ethan Finlay - Columbus -22- 97 – exceptional

11. Matt Hedges - Dallas -22- 118 – Exceptional

12. Aaron Maund - Toronto -22- 46 – Poor

13. Chandler Hoffman - Philly -22- 20 – Failure

14. Tony Cascio - Colorado -22- 42 – poor

15. Andrew Duran - Seattle -23- 0 – Failure

16. Dom Dwyer - KC -22- 80 - Solid

17. Enzo Martinez - SLC -22- 0 - Failure

18. Colin Rolfe - Houston -22- 0 - Failure

19. Tommy Meyer - LAG -22- 33 - poor

Total – 18 picks.

Average appearances: 59 - poor

Median appearances: 46 – poor

Average age of picks: 21.1

Exceptional picks: 7

Solid picks: 1

Poor picks: 4

Failures: 6

Top 5 Ave: 91 – exceptional

Franchise players: N/A

2013

1. Andrew Farrell - New England -21- 91 - Exceptional

2. Carlos Alvarez - Chivas -23- 51 – solid

3. Kyle Bekker - Toronto -23- 40 - poor

4. Kekuta Manneh – Vancouver -19- 81 – exceptional

5. Erik Hurtado - Vancouver -23- 54 - Solid

6. Deshorn Brown - Colorado -23-- 62 - poor

7. Walker Zimmerman - Dallas -20- 35 - poor

8. Blake Smith - Montreal -22- 19 - failure

9. Ryan Finley - Columbus - 30 – 22 – failure

10. Eriq Zavaleta - Seattle -21- 40 - poor

11. Dillon Powers - Colorado -22- 92 - Exceptional

12. John Stertzer - SLC -23- 28- poor

13. Jason Johnson - Houston -23- 41 - poor

14. Mikey Lopez - KC 20- 13 - Failure

15. Tommy Muller - San Jose -22- 0 - Failure

16. Emery Welshman – Toronto-22 - 1 - Failure

17. Taylor Kemp - DCU -22- 43 - poor

18. Fernando Monge -23- Montreal - 0 - Failure

19. Charlie Rugg - LAG -23- 4 - Failure

Total – 19 picks.

Average appearances: 37.7 – poor

Median appearances: 40 – poor

Average age of picks: 21.9

Exceptional picks: 3

Solid picks: 2

Poor picks: 7

Failures: 7

Top 5 Ave: 63.4 -- solid

Franchise players: N/A

2014

1. Andre Blake – Philadelphia 24 – 7 – failure

2. Steve Birnbaum - D.C. United 23- 40 - solid

3. Christian Dean - Vancouver Whitecaps 21- 9 – failure

4. Steve Neumann - New England Revolution 23- 32 - solid

5. Eric Miller - Montreal Impact 21 – 30 - solid

6. Tesho Akindele - FC Dallas 22 – 53 – exceptional

7. Andre Lewis – Vancouver – 20 – 0 - failure

8. Damion Lowe - Seattle Sounders 21 – 0 – failure

9. J. J. Koval - San Jose Earthquakes 22 – 37 - - solid

10. Nick Hagglund - Toronto FC 24 – 37 – solid

11. Patrick Mullins - New England Revolution 22 – 44 – exceptional

12. Marlon Hairston - Colorado Rapids 20 – 25 - poor

13. Marco Franco - Chicago Fire 23 – 0 - failure

14. Ben Sweat - Columbus Crew 23 – 0 – failure

15. Pedro Ribeiro - Philadelphia Union 24 – 27 – poor

16. A. J. Cochran - Houston Dynamo 21 – 26 – poor

17. Schillo Tshuma - Portland Timbers 22 – 0 – failure

18. Ryan Neil - Real Salt Lake 22 – 0 – failure

19. Grant Van De Casteele - Colorado Rapids 23 – 1 – failure

Total – 19 picks.

Average appearances: 19.3 -- poor

Median appearances: 25 – poor

Average age of picks: 22.1

Exceptional picks: 2

Solid picks: 5

Poor picks: 3

Failures: 9

Top 5 Ave: 23.6 – poor

Franchise players: N/A

2015

1 . Cyle Larin - Orlando City SC 19 – 27 -- exceptional

2 . Khiry Shelton - New York City FC 21 – 15 – solid

3 . Romario Williams - Montreal Impact 20 – 2 – failure

4 . Fatai Alashe - San Jose Earthquakes 21 – 28 – exceptional

5 . Nick Besler - Portland Timbers 21 – 0 - failure

6 . Alex Bono - Toronto FC 20 – 0 – failure

7 . Matt Polster - Chicago Fire 21 – 30 – exceptional

8 . Zach Steinberger - Houston Dynamo 22 – 3 – failure

9 . Clément Simonin - Toronto FC 23 – 2 – failure

10 . Connor Hallisey - Sporting Kansas City - 21 – 11 - poor

11 . Skylar Thomas - Toronto FC 21 – 0 – failure

12 . Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting Kansas City - 23 – 15 – solid

13 . Tim Parker Vancouver - Whitecaps FC - 21 – 15 – solid

14 . Axel Sjöberg - Colorado Rapids - 23 – 14 – poor

15 . Otis Earle - FC Dallas - 22 – 0 – failure

16 . Cristian Roldan - Seattle Sounders FC - 19 – 22 – exceptional

17 . Miguel Aguilar - D.C. United - 21 – 17 – solid

18 . Leo Stolz - New York Red Bulls - 23 – 0 – failure

19. Sergio Campbell - Columbus Crew SC - 22 – 1 – failure

20 . Amadou Dia - Sporting Kansas City - 21 – 22 – exceptional

21 . Ignacio Maganto - Los Angeles Galaxy - 23 – 12 - poor

Total – 21 picks (Extra pick due to need to honour Chivas trades)

Average appearances: 12.2 – poor

Median appearances: 14 – poor

Average age of picks: 21.4

Exceptional picks: 5

Solid picks: 4

Poor picks: 3

Failures: 9

Top 5 Ave: 14.4 – solid

Franchise players: N/A

Let’s start with some basic breakdowns, starting with the overall numbers.

Number of drafts: 16

Total players tracked: 227

Exceptional picks: 69 (30.4%)

Solid picks: 46 (20.3%)

Poor picks: 41 (18%)

Failure picks: 71 (31.3%)

Nearly one-third of all players drafted in the first round all-time were failures and a majority were either failures or poor. So, if you were to spin the draft in its absolutely most positive way teams are flipping a coin in the first round to see if they are going to get a serviceable MLS player – and let’s be candid here: many of the players that are exceptional by our standards are subjectively speaking pretty average players. The chances of getting a true star are pretty thin – there have only been eight franchise players drafted all-time (and one is Chad Barrett, who is underrated, but ultimately still Chad Barrett).

Again, these are the all-time numbers. There is a clear divide in the draft yield between the drafts pre and post homegrown rule. Let’s breakdown those numbers:

Pre homegrown

Players tracked: 88

Exceptional: 31 (35.2%)

Solid: 20 (22.7%)

Poor: 16 (18.1%)

Failure: 21(23.8%)

Post homegrown

Players tracked: 136

Exceptional: 35 (25.7%)

Solid: 26 (19.1%)

Poor: 25 (18.3%)

Failure: 50 (36.7%)

The numbers speak for themselves. Before the homegrown rule came into effect nearly four of every 10 picks were exceptional. After, that four in six stat was for the failures.

One reason for the change is likely the expanding of the first round. It stands to reason that has the round goes deeper the picks get harder.

There were 74 picks after the top 10. Of that 64 were made post homegrown.

The numbers:

Exceptional: 12 (16.2%)

Solid: 7 (9.5%)

Poor: 14 (18.9%)

Failure: 41 (55.4%)

Is there something that jumps out about exceptional players? Let’s isolate them to have a look.

2000

2 - Nick Garcia – 21 – 296 – Kansas City - defender

6 - Danny Califf – 20 – 186* - Los Angeles - defender

11 - Sasha Victorine – 22 – 239 – Los Angeles – midfielder

12 - Bobby Convey – 17 – 164 - DC United - midfielder

2001

8 - Santino Quaranta – 17 -180 – DC United – forward

9 - Brian Mullan – 23 – 273 Los Angeles – midfielder

10 - Duncan Oughton – 24 – 136 – Columbus – defender

2002

2 - Taylor Twellman – 22 – 174* - New England – forward

3 - Brad Davis – 20 – 271 – New York – midfielder

4 - Justin Mapp – 18 – 223 - DC United – midfielder

5 - Kelly Gray – 21 – 167 – Chicago – defender

7 - Kyle Martino – 21 – 141 – Columbus – midfielder

2003

2 - Ricardo Clark – 20 – 185 – New York – midfielder

3 - Nate Jaqua – 22 – 193 – Chicago – forward

4 - Mike Magee – 19 – 286 – New York – forward

6 - Todd Dunivant – 22 – 284 – San Jose – defender

9 - Pat Noonan – 23 – 208 – New England - forward

10 - Shavar Thomas – 22 – 174 – Dallas – defender

2004

2 - Chad Marshall – 20 – 308 – Columbus – defender

5 - Ryan Cochrane – 21 – 172 – San Jose – defender

2005

3 - Chad Barrett – 20 – 255 – Chicago – forward

4 - Danny O'Rourke – 22 – 189 – San Jose – defender

5 - Ugo Ihemelu – 22 – 186 – Los Angeles – defender

6 - Drew Moor – 21- 304 – Dallas – defender

9 - Michael Parkhurst – 21 – 181 - New England – defender

11 - Scott Sealy – 24 – 144 – Kansas City – forward

2006

1 - Marvell Wynne – 19 – 265 – New York – defender

2 - Mehdi Ballouchy – 22 – 211 – Salt Lake – midfielder

5 - Sacha Kljestan – 19 – 147- Chivas – midfielder

9 - Kei Kamara – 21 – 225 – Columbus – forward

11 - Nathan Sturgis – 18 – 141 – Los Angeles – midfielder

2007

3 - Michael Harrington – 20 – 221 – Kansas City – defender

5 - Wells Thompson – 22 – 158 – New England – midfielder

2008 – Homegrown rule starts

3 - Tony Beltran – 20 – 190 – Salt Lake – defender

4 - Sean Franklin – 22 – 208 – Los Angeles – midfielder/winger

7 - Patrick Nyarko – 21 – 196 – Chicago – midfielder/winger

2009

2- Sam Cronin – 22 – 199 – Toronto – midfielder

3 - Omar Gonzalez – 21 – 180 – Los Angeles – defender

6 - Rodney Wallace – 21 – 159 – DC United – midfielder/winger

7 - Chris Pontius – 22 – 152 – DC United – midfielder

8 - Matt Besler – 22 – 179 – Kansas City – defender

10 - Kevin Alston – 21 – 148 – New England – defender

13 - Stefan Frei – 23 – 140 – Toronto – keeper

2010

4 - Teal Bunbury – 20 – 149 – Kansas City – forward

5 - Zach Loyd – 23 – 163 – Dallas – defender

7 - Jack McInerney – 18 – 143 – Philly – forward

15 - Collen Warner – 22 – 136 – Salt Lake – midfielder

2011

2 - Darlington Nagbe – 21 – 160 – Portland – midfielder

3 - Perry Kitchen – 19 – 158 – DC United – midfielder

9 - Jalil Anibaba – 23 – 128 – Chicago – defender

10 - C. J. Sapong – 22 – 134 – Kansas City – forward

11 - Will Bruin – 22 – 137 – Houston – forward

2012

1. Andrew Wenger - Montreal 22—105 – forward

2. Darren Mattocks - Vancouver – 22 – 93 – forward

3. Kelyn Rowe - New Eng - 21- 123 – midfielder

4. Luis Silva – Toronto- 24 – 108 – midfielder

7. Nick DeLeon - DCU -22- 109 – midfielder

10. Ethan Finlay - Columbus -22- 97 – midfielder

11. Matt Hedges - Dallas -22- 118 – defender

2013

1. Andrew Farrell - New England -21- 91 – defender

4. Kekuta Manneh – Vancouver -19- 81 – forward/winger

11. Dillon Powers - Colorado -22- 92 – midfielder

2014

6. Tesho Akindele - FC Dallas 22 – 53 – forward

11. Patrick Mullins - New England Revolution 22 – 44 – forward

2015

1 . Cyle Larin - Orlando City SC 19 – 27 – forward

4 . Fatai Alashe - San Jose Earthquakes 21 – 28 – midfielders

7 . Matt Polster - Chicago Fire 21 – 30 – midfielder

16 . Cristian Roldan - Seattle Sounders FC - 19 – 22 – midfielder

20 . Amadou Dia - Sporting Kansas City - 21 – 22 – defender

By position:

Forwards 19 (11 post HG) – 27.5% (30.5%)

Midfielders 27 (16) – 39.1% (44.4%)

Defenders 22 (8) – 31.8% (22.2%)

Keepers 1 (1) – 1.4% (2.7%)

Total 69 (36)

It’s not surprising that midfielders would dominate the draft. It’s the position that typically has the most players, especially when you consider that a significant amount of players are converted to “utility” midfielders at the pro level.

It’s also not surprising that only one keeper – Stef Frei – has ever had a significant impact out of the draft. It’s a position that is both in limited demand and that often favours experience over youth. The move to USL reserve teams likely benefits younger keepers more than any other position.

What is surprising is the reduction in successful defenders to the point that there are now more successful attackers drafted. There is room for further exploration here.

By age:

17 – 2 (0 post HG) – 6% - 0% -- overall 5.5%

18 – 2 (1) – 6% - 2.7% -- 8.3%

19 – 3 (4) – 9% - 11.1% -- 10.1%

20 – 6 (3) – 18.1% - 8.3% -- 13%

21 – 7 (9) – 21.2% - 25% -- 23.1%

22 – 9 (15) -- 25% - 41.6% -- 34.7%

23 – 2 (3) – 6% - 8.3% -- 7.2%

24 – 2 (1) – 6% - 2.7% -- 4.3%

By and large the vast majority of successful players (57.8%) are drafted when they are either 21 or 22 -- after graduating college. This lends credence to the idea that the draft is best utilized to find “late bloomers.” This idea is backed up by the increase in players drafted in that age bracket post homegrown rule (from 46.2% to 66.6%). If a player is truly talented they are absorbed into MLS (or have left for Europe) long before college is over.

Since soccer is a sport that inspires partisanship let’s end today with a question ever fan will want answered – who drafts the best? To put an objective value on that question we placed a value on each pick made by a team all-time, weighted by when they were picked.

Those values are:

Top 5 pick : 3 points for exceptional, 1 point for solid, 0 for poor or failure

Pick 6-10: 4 points for exceptional, 2 for solid, 1 for poor, 0 for failure

Picks 11 and above: 5 points exceptional, 3 for solid, 1 for poor, 0 for failure

Bonus point for drafting a franchise player

To compare teams equally we divided the total points by amount of picks made to get a points per pick figure.

The is exercise is designed to see what teams draft the best, not which teams retain and develop talent the best. Therefore, we don’t concern ourselves with whether the team that drafted the player benefited from their play.

The results:

1. New England 2.5 points per pick

2. Kansas City 2.47

3. Galaxy 2.05

4. DCU 2.0

5. Chicago 1.81

6. Red Bulls 1.72

7. Dallas 1.57

8. San Jose/Houston 1.43

9. Columbus 1.35

10. Seattle 1.33

11. Philly 1.28

12. TFC 1.26

13. Vancouver 1.25

14. Colorado 1.21

15. RSL 1.05

16. Montreal 0.8

17. Chivas 0.67

Orlando, NYCFC, San Jose 2.0, Tampa Bay and Portland did not meet the minimum amount of total first round picks (5) to qualify for a rank.

Thanks it for us for this update of the SuperDraft analysis. We encourage others to take the data and dig for more trends.