The Short List: Top Draft Classes

By Allen Ramsey

In American sports the draft-day is one of the most important days of the year. It is the one day of the year that every team gets a chance to change its future, rewrite past failures, and find that diamond in the rough.

Filip Bondy’s book Tip Off is a prime example of how one draft, in this case the 1984 NBA draft, can change the face of a league. With that in mind I thought I would take a look back on the Major League Soccer draft and rank the top five draft classes in league history.

5. 2001 SuperDraft

The 2001 SuperDraft produced three of the primary pieces of Houston’s back-to-back title teams-- Brian Ching, Brian Mullen, and Craig Waibel—along with Bryan Namoff, Eddie Johnson, Santino Quaranta and Edson Buddle.

In the long run this draft has the potential to climb even higher. Buddle reemerged in 2008 as a legitimate scoring threat, Santino Quaranta is turning into a star in D.C., and Eddie Johnson could still breakout in England. But for now, this draft class in number five.

4. 1998 College Draft

Deep, but unspectacular is a good way to describe the 1998 College Draft. Most of the players selected took a few years to develop into solid MLS starters, but the late blooming class of ’98 has shown some skill in its ten year run.

Among the stars of this class, only Pablo Mastroeni made a real impact for the U.S. National team. Others like Matt Reis and Chris Klein also received caps, but the impact this class had on the MLS was huge. Joe Franchino, Wade Barrett, and Danny Hernandez all factored into MLS Cup finals at one point. Jeff Cunningham won an MLS Golden Boot and Tyrone Marshall has proven to be a solid pro.   

3. 1996 College Draft

The ’96 College Draft class was small, only 29 players, and as such did not produce the depth of some later draft classes. However, based purely on talent, the first college draft was a good one.

Of the 29 players drafted six- Eddie Pope, Greg Vanney, Steve Ralston, Jesse Marsch, Eddie Lewis, and Ante Razov- all had stellar careers both in MLS and abroad.

Other draft classes had more depth and produced more talent in numbers, but few, if any, had a higher success rate than the first.

2. 2002 SuperDraft

It’s hard to argue with the 2002 draft as one that brought in some of MLS’s best players. Taylor Twellman, Brad Davis, Justin Mapp, and Kyle Martino highlight the first round picks, but this class was deep and produced some great players late.

Shalrie Joseph, Jon Busch, Alejandro Moreno, and Davy Arnaud all fell out of the first round, but went on to become elite players at their respective positions.

In all, this draft has had as big an impact on the MLS as any other draft in league history, but lacked the star quality to be considered the top draft class of all-time.

1. 2004 SuperDraft

When evaluating a draft class years later you look for two things. First, you want star power. Second, you need a few sleepers.

The star power is easy to point out. Freddy Adu, Clint Dempsey, and Chad Marshall all went in what should be considered the best first round of a draft in league history with Matt Taylor, Ryan Cochrane, Ramon Nunez, Clarence Goodson, Joseph Ngwenya, and Steve Cronin all being productive players in some form or fashion.

As for sleepers, how about Jeff Parke and Andy Dorman being taken with two of the last three picks. If that’s not enough for you Michael Bradley, Joshua Gros, Will Hesmer, and Seth Stammler were all drafted somewhere between the first and sixth rounds.

True, some of the players mentioned didn’t blossom with the teams that took them in ’04. Others never really made an impact on the league but have found success overseas. In the end the 2004 SuperDraft produced more talent than any other draft to date.

Allen Ramsey in an associate editor of Goal.com USA