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2016 MLS Draft: How to Watch Orlando City at the SuperDraft
Happy SuperDraft Day, Lion Nation. Today in Baltimore, MD, the club will add some new pieces to the puzzle for 2016, starting the day with four picks in this year's draft — one in each of the draft's four rounds. Orlando City will select seventh, 32nd, 48th and 68th this year, barring a trade to change that order. One important thing to keep in mind is that today will only cover the first two rounds of the SuperDraft. Rounds 3 and 4 will be selected via conference call on Jan. 19.
Last year, Orlando City knocked draft day out of the park, landing Cyle Larin with the No. 1 overall selection. Larin went on to win Rookie of the Year and set a new MLS rookie goal-scoring record, with 17. In addition, the Lions added goalkeeper of the future Earl Edwards Jr. and promising defender Conor Donovan. There were two misses in Sidney Rivera and Akeil Barrett but both are still playing professional soccer.
This year, the Lions enter the draft with a bit of a different agenda. Rather than trying to build a team to put on the field, Orlando City will look to bolster the squad wherever it can and add depth and prospects with upside. Areas of need include attacking midfielders (both central and on the wings), fullback prospects, and of course you can never have too many center backs. Goal scorers are always at a premium, so a forward isn't out of the question either. OK, so that's basically every position. But that's what's different about last year. Last year Orlando City was building a team. This year the Lions are strengthening what they already have.
Complicating matters this year is the GM situation. Paul McDonough ran the show in 2015 but he left recently after the hiring of Armando Carneiro as Chief Soccer Officer. When Carneiro subsequently resigned unexpectedly just a few weeks ago, it left Phil Rawlins as acting GM. McDonough is now with expansion Atlanta, but Rawlins does have experience in team building and he'll have Adrian Heath there with him to help buy the groceries.
What can we expect Orlando City to do? Well, the weird thing is that no two mock drafts look alike when predicting who City will take. Here are some of the first-round mock draft results for the Lions:
- SB Nation: Richie Laryea, MF, University of Akron
- Soccer by Ives (1): Omar Holness, MF/F, North Carolina
- Soccer by Ives (2): Ben Polk, F, Syracuse
- Draft Utopia: Patrick Hodan, MF, Notre Dame
- Bleacher Report: Tim Kubel, RB, Louisville
- Top Drawer Soccer: Jake Rozhansky, MF, Virginia
- MLSSoccer.com: Jorginho James, MF, Jamaica
So, there doesn't seem to be a consensus. And Orlando could also trade the pick to move up or down, or for a current player or other assets. We'll have to tune in to find out.
Here's your draft order for the first two rounds:
Round 1
-
Chicago FireNew York City FC – Jack Harrison, MF, Wake Forest -
Colorado RapidsPhiladelphia Union – Joshua Yaro, D, Georgetown - Philadelphia Union – Keegan Rosenberry, D, Georgetown
-
New York City FCChicago Fire – Brandon Vincent, D, Stanford - Real Salt Lake – Omar Holness, MF, North Carolina
- Philadelphia Union – Fabian Herbers, MF, Creighton
- Orlando City SC – Richie Laryea, MF, Akron
- San Jose Earthquakes – Andrew Tarbell, GK, Clemson
- Toronto FC – Tsubasa Endoh, MF, Maryland
- New England Revolution– Jordan McCrary, D, North Carolina
-
Sporting Kansas CityD.C. United – Julian Buescher, MF, Syracuse -
LA GalaxyColorado RapidsChicago Fire – Jonathan Campbell, D, North Carolina -
D.C. UnitedOrlando City – Hadji Barry, F, Central Florida - Montreal Impact – Kyle Fisher, D, Clemson
-
Seattle Sounders FCChicago FireColorado Rapids – Emmanuel Appiah, MF, Cincinnati - Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Cole Seiler, D, Georgetown
- FC Dallas -Ryan Herman, GK, Washington
- New York Red Bulls – Justin Bilyeu, D, SIU-Edwardsville
- Columbus Crew SC – Rodrigo Saravia, MF, Florida Gulf Coast
- Portland Timbers – Ben Polk, F, Syracuse
Round 2
- (21) Columbus Crew SC – Chase Minter, MF, Cal Poly
- (22)
Colorado RapidsChicago Fire – Alex Morrell, F, North Florida - (23) Philadelphia Union – Taylor Washington, D, George Mason
- (24) Montreal Impact – Michael Salazar, F, Cal-Riverside
- (25) Real Salt Lake – Max Lachowecki, D, Notre Dame
- (26) Houston Dynamo – Ivan Magalhaes, D, Maryland
- (27) Seattle Sounders FC – Tony Alfaro, D, Cal State-Dominguez Hills
- (28) San Jose Earthquakes – Patrick Hodan, MF, Notre Dame
- (29) Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Christopher Hellman, F, Lynn
- (30) New England Revolution – Michael Gamble, F, Wake Forest
- (31) Columbus Crew SC – Kyle Parker, F, UNC-Charlotte
-
(32) Orlando City SC*D.C. United – Paul Clowes, MF, Clemson - (33)
Chicago FireColorado RapidsFC Dallas – Timo Pitter, MF/F, Creighton - (34) Montreal Impact – Eric Verso, MF, Stanford
- (35) Seattle Sounders FC – Zach Mathers, MF, Duke
- (36) Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Thomas Sanner, F, Princeton
- (37) Colorado Rapids – Dennis Castillo, D, VCU
- (38) New York Red Bulls – Zach Carroll, D, Michigan State
- (39) Montreal Impact – Keegan Smith, F, San Diego
- (40) Portland Timbers – Neco Brett, MF/F, Robert Morris
(41) Columbus Crew SC – Marshall Hollingsworth, F, Wheaton College
*How did Orlando City end up with this pick? The Lions traded their second-round pick in 2016 to Philadelphia as part of the Amobi Okugo deal. That pick was subsequently dealt to Toronto and then on to Seattle, which will now pick at No. 27 — Orlando City's "natural" spot in Round 2. Orlando got back into the second round by trading goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts to the LA Galaxy for their second-round selection. For a time, the Lions also had Chicago's second-round pick from the Eric Gehrig trade (No. 21 overall), but Orlando City swapped that pick to the Crew for Adam Bedell in the 2015 summer transfer window. Yeah, it sometimes can get confusing.
How to Watch:
Time: 1 p.m
Venue: Baltimore Convention Center – Baltimore, MD
TV: Nope. But the first pick will be shown live on ESPN's SportsCenter
Streaming: Catch it on mlssoccer.com here or follow their draft tracker or view it in the embedded player below. It's also available on Watch ESPN and FOX Sports Go.
Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC). The event’s hashtag is #SuperDraft.