Top Rookie Seasons

Yesterday I read a good article about FC Dallas rookie Matt Hedges and where his season ranks in regards to other Dallas rookie seasons.  I decided to take a look at this myself for Sporting KC.  Obviously this seasons isn't looking like a stellar year for KC's rookies, in fact currently the 2012 rookie class for KC is set to finish the season with the fewest minutes played of any rookie class in KC's history.  Dom Dwyer is the only rookie to appear in a competitive game for Sporting this year totaling 49 minutes in one league and one US Open Cup appearance.  Unless he appears over the last two games, this rookie class will finish below the 2003 class that featured Taylor Graham and Jack Jewsbury making a combined 4 league appearances for a total of 71 minutes their rookie year.

Back to the top rookie seasons in KC's history.  The first thing I did was disqualify any player who had played professionally previously (the MLS drafts used to allow you to draft players from the lower divisions as well as college players), so that means no Kerry Zavagnin, Brandon Prideaux, or Ryan Tinsley on this list as all played professionally in the US lower divisions before being drafted by KC.  I wanted this to be about straight rookies, just out of college.  I looked mainly at their contributions ONLY in their rookie season trying to avoid looking at how the rest of their careers has shaped how they're viewed.

So who just missed out on the list?  Two players that just missed that are currently on KC's roster, Matt Besler (2009), Chris Brown (1999), and Diego Gutierrez (1996).  All 3 had solid rookie seasons, Besler appearing in 28 of the 30 league games, Brown scoring 4 goals and assisting on 3 more while appearing in 28 games, and Gutierrez appearing in 28 games recording 5 assists in the leagues first season, but I think they both just miss out on making this list, but it's not by much.  So here's the top 5.

Number 5 - Teal Bunbury 2010

The Generation Adidas, University of Akron product became the first son of a MLS player to be drafted into the league, following in the footsteps of his dad, Alex Bunbury, who also played for Kansas City.  Under Peter Vermes, Bunbury was brought along fairly slowly his rookie year, now earning his first league start until about 8 games into the season.  He scored in the US Open Cup qualifier against Colorado early in the season, but it was July before his first league goal.  Bunbury finished the season appearing in 26games, starting 13, scoring 5 goals, 2 of which were game winners, and 2 assists.

Since that time, Bunbury has been a bit of a polarizing figure for KC.  Some fans of grown tired of his perceived lack of hustle, especially compared to KC's rookie the next year CJ Sapong.  But Bunbury has still played quite well, scoring 19 league goals, 24 in all competitions, he tied for the team lead in goals in league play last season with 9, and led in all competitions with 12.  He was having another solid year this year before he tore his ACL vs New York.

Number 4 - Michael Harrington 2007

Over the course of his rookie year, Harrington, a UNC product supplanted the team's reigning MVP and MLS Best XI defender Jose Burciaga Jr at the left back position.  Granted some of that was Burciaga's own undoing, but Harrington played a role in it and definitely made Burciaga expendable after the season.  Harrington played in 29 of KC's 30 games that year starting 27 of them.  He contributed 3 goals and 4 assists, including what at the time was the fastest debut goal, although it was topped by CJ Sapong 4 years later.

Since his rookie year, Harrington has been a solid contributor to KC, appearing in over 150 league games for the club.  Most of that time has been at the left back position, but he's seen himself around the wingback and win positions especially under Curt Onalfo.  The last season and a half though his playing time has decreased as Seth Sinovic and Chance Myers have emerged successfully at the wingback positions.

Number 3 - Scott Sealy 2005

Sealy is the rookie record holder for most goals in a rookie season.  The Wake Forest product scored 9 goals and assisted on 2 more in his rookie season.  That was good enough for second on the team, 1 behind Josh Wolff.  He appeared in 28 of the 32 games that year for KC, starting 20 of them.

Sealy continued to be a fairly solid contributor for KC over the next few years, leading the team in scoring in 2006 with 10 and added another 7 in 2007.  In 2008 though he found his time with the team slipping away and was traded to San Jose around midseason.  After a few seasons in San Jose he moved abroad to Israel before coming back to San Jose.  He's now with Dallas, mainly playing as a reserve.

Number 2 - CJ Sapong 2011

Last year's MLS rookie of the year and James Madison product comes in second on my list of the top rookies.  Sapong was forced into the starting lineup at the very beginning of the 2011 season due to the elbow injury to Teal Bunbury.  Sapong made the most of that opportunity scoring in only the second minute of the game.  Sapong went on to finish the season with 5 goals, good for 4th on the team and 5 assists, good for 2nd, all in league play.  In all competitions he added another 4 goals to his total.  He also made the most appearances for the club in the season, playing in 40 of the teams 41 games in all competitions, including all 34 league games.

This season Sapong has continued to play well, with little sign of a sophomore slump.  He's scored 8 more league goals this year, second on the team behind Kei Kamara and has hit double digits in all competitions with 10.

Number 1 - Nick Garcia 2000

It's hard to have a season that tops one that won rookie of the year, but that's my feelings on Nick Garcia's 2000 season.  Garcia was part of a 3 man back line that set records left and right for defensive ability in the 2000 season.  The Indian University, Project-40 graduate (precursor to Generation Adidas) was the second overall pick in the 200 draft, played every single minute of every single game that KC played in the 2000 seasons.  Him and Peter Vermes started all 40 games in all competitions, amassing over 3,600 minutes.  He missed out on rookie of the year, finishing second to future US national team captain, Carlos Bocanegra.

Garcia became a staple in the KC back line for the next 7 seasons, and left as the team leader in appearances and in minutes played (he's since been passed in both by Kerry Zavagnin and by Davy Arnaud in appearances).  Garcia was traded to expansion San Jose for the first overall pick that KC used on Chance Myers.  Garcia played a couple season with the Earthquakes before being traded to Toronto.  He played two more seasons there before note being selected in the Re-Entry draft. 

So do you agree? Disagree with my list of the top 5?  Does Sapong's rookie of the year trump Garcia?  Should Besler, Gutierrez, Brown, or another rookie have made the top 5 instead?  Let me know.

Vermes Interview

Thad over at The Back Post recently had a phone interview with the Wizards Technical Director, Peter Vermes. He had to divide the interview into three posts, but you can see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 on his blog. Part 1 deals mainly with new players. The team is looking at a couple players, and 1-2 may join the team for training down in Florida. Vermes confirmed that the team looked at Carlo Costly, but he wasn't someone they were trying to sign. Overall Vermes is happy with the team currently, and as he mentioned to me at the draft, the team is strong, and they are looking to fill a few holes and add depth.

Part 2 deals with the rookies and exhibitions. Vermes mentions that the team has already released 3rd round draft pick, Neal Kitson. Fourth round pick Akeem Priestley is trying his luck abroad first. Matt Besler and Doug DeMartin are already in camp, while Graham Zusi will join the team in Florida. He also mentions that they are currently working on their game schedule for the trip to Mexico, and there may be one preseason game in town as well.

Part 3 has to do with the new coaches, Kerry Zavagnin and John Pascarella, who played with Coach Onalfo when they were with LA, and he played with Vermes in their youth. Also, in Part 3, as Vermes says, "Nothing in the fire for a jersey sponsor".

Check out the interviews.

The Class of 2008

It's the offseason, which means all my statistical stuff comes back out in full force. To start it all off, let's have a look back at the Wizards 2008 draft. In the two drafts, the Wizards had a total of 10 picks, including two in the first round of the Superdraft.

1(1) - Chance Myers - Myers, a Generation Adidas player, appeared in only 10 league games in his rookie campaign, totaling 681 minutes played. His time this season was cut short due to injuries and illness. Myers also added in 209 minutes in all 3 games of the Wizards US Open Cup run. He also appeared in 6 reserve league matches.

1(11) - Roger Espinoza - Espinoza was another Generation Adidas selection. Of all the players the Wizards drafted, Espinoza appeared in the most games for the Wizards, 22 MLS, 26 in all competitions. He tied Jonathan Leathers for the most league starts with 12. He raked up 1169 minutes, 1 goal and 3 assists in league play. He added two more assists while playing in 6 reserve league games this season.

2(23) - Yomby William - William only appeared in 3 reserve league games (starting 1) for a total of 195 minutes before being waived to make room for Kevin Souter. William seems to have found success elsewhere, though, as he's playing for the Puerto Rico Islanders of USL-1.

2(25) - Jonathan Leathers - Leathers held onto the starting right back spot for most of the season, tying Espinoza for the most league starts. Including the US Open Cup and playoffs, Leathers started 17 matches (2 more than Espinoza). He lead all the Wizards rookies in not just MLS minutes but competitive minutes too (1193 league, 1696 overall). He was the only rookie to appear in the league, playoffs, US Open Cup, and the Open Cup qualifier this season.

3(39) - Matt Marquess - Marquess spent most of his time this past season with the reserves, playing in 9 of the games, scoring 1 goal and getting 1 assist. He did, though, get some time with the first team when Michael Harrington had his run in the midfield. He played in 5 league games, starting 4 and picked up 1 assist. He also played every minute of the two US Open Cup games and made a token appearance in the playoffs.

4(53) - Rauwshan McKenzie - McKenzie was the only rookie to feature in all 11 of the Wizards reserves games this past season. He started all 11 of those games. He also made 1 appearance with the first team, as he started the Wizards' game against Seattle in the US Open Cup, although he was pulled at halftime for Jimmy Conrad.

Sup 1(11) - Pat Healey - Healey was invited to preseason training, but was waived before the trip to Argentina. Healey, though, caught on with Crystal Palace Baltimore of USL-2.

Sup 2(25) - Vicente Arze - Arze never came to camp with the Wizards, before the draft even took place, Arze had signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps of USL-1. While there he mainly came off the bench, but recently had the option on his contract picked up.

Sup 3(39) - Tom Gray - Like Healey, Gray came to preseason training, but was waived before the trip to Argentina. Haven't been able to find any information on where he went due to how common his name is.

Sup 4(53) - Andrew Kartunen - Didn't immediately show up with the Wizards as he finished school with Stanford. When he did show up, he was signed as a league keeper and trained with the team. Kartunen, though, missed a lot of time training in goal due to injury.

Overall, the Wizards didn't have a bad draft, in what was considered a weak class. Leathers and Espinoza look like the could be solid contributors for years to come. Marquess looks like he could eventually be a decent player too. Due to the injuries and mono, it's a little too early to judge Myers being the number 1 pick. From the little I've seen he could certainly be a solid player.

Wizards Rookies

Earlier this year, the Wizards drafted 10 players in the combined Super draft and Supplemental draft. How did these 10 players perform in their first year as professional players. I'll go in the order the player was drafted.

Round 1 (Pick 3) - Michael Harrington - Harrington played in 33 of 34 games for the Wizards this season getting 3 goals and 4 assists this season in 2812 minutes. While he started off strong, he faded down the stretch. In the end, though, Harrington was a great pick up at the number 3 slot and should give the Wizards a good option on the left for years to come.

3 (29) - Edson Elcock - The Wizards second pick of the draft did not play a minute with the first team, but played 599 minutes for the reserve team, recording 1 assist. Showed some good speed this season, will be interesting to see if he gets time on the wing next season.

4 (42) - Kurt Morsink - Came on late and started many of the games for the Wizards late in the season. Raked up 1845 minutes playing 32 games for the first team in league, US Open Cup, and playoffs, along with the reserves.

Supplement 1 (3) - Aaron Hohlbein - Started 4 games for the Wizards early in the season, but tapered off as the season went on. Didn't play in a game for the first team after the July 1st game against Toronto. Did start 9 games for the reserves, though, scoring 1 goal.

2 (16) - Michael Todd - Never made the roster, haven't been able to find any information on him.

3 (29) - Chris Konopka - The Wizards third string goalie this season. Came off the bench in 3 of the Wizards reserve team matches, getting 135 minutes.

4 (30) - Eric Frimpong - Was drafted by the Wizards, but never made it onto the team's roster. Part of that had to do with the Frimpong's legal trouble. Unfortunately I haven't found any more updated information then that.

4 (32) - AJ Godbolt - Another player who only appeared in reserve team matches, playing in 6 of them.

5 (48) - Michael Kraus - The MO Valley Conference player of the year last year didn't play in a first team game, but was able to make the bench this season after impressing with the reserves. He was one of only 2 rookies (Elcock the other) to play in all 12 reserve games. Had 2 goals and 4 assists in those 12 games.

5 (52) - Willy Guadarrama - Mr. Irrelevant, the last player taken in last years draft tied Harrington for the most goals scored by a rookie, scoring 3 in the reserve league while playing in all but one of the reserve games.

Overall, a decent rookie class this year. The Wizards got first team contributions out of 3 of their rookies. All 3 looked like they'd be able to contribute in the future. Will be interesting to see if their contributions continue next year and which, if any, of the other rookies will be able to contribute next year.