RSL Soapbox: Nothing Super About Draft For Real Salt Lake
The importance of the MLS SuperDraft has not risen to the level of, say, the NFL Draft and doesn’t seem to be on its way there. As Brian Straus at AOL Fanhouse pointed out, just one player drafted in the post-2000 SuperDraft era has gone on to win an MVP in MLS. That’s not to say it’s an irrelevant tool, just that championships are not often won and loss on draft day.
Case in point is Real Salt Lake, arguably the best run team in MLS today. RSL Soapbox's Denz points out that their draft history is littered with busts and that just one player who is expected to start next year has come out of the SuperDraft.
Over the years the players actually drafted by Real Salt Lake have had a very mixed impact, and while many players on our roster were drafted by someone (since that is the most common way of entering MLS) if you look at our roster today you will only see only one regular starter that was actually drafted by RSL, Tony Beltran.
Denz details the litany of failed prospects to wear the claret and cobalt. Nik Besagno was supposed to the next great American when he was drafted as a 16-year-old, but made just eight appearances of four seasons. RSL chose Mehdi Ballouchy with the second overall pick in 2006, but he was only useful as a trading chip that eventually brought Kyle Beckerman. Chris Seitz was the No. 4 overall pick in 2007, but he has never lived up to that lofty draft position and only made seven appearances for RSL over three seasons. Beltran, Jean Alexandre and Collen Warner were the top picks in each of the next three seasons, and while they haven't been bad, also haven't had huge impacts on the team.
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