Draft Days Steals

As the 2008 SuperDraft approaches, Steve Davis had this interesting article about the best draft day steals.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=498263&root=mls&cc=5901

As his list suggests, there are some real gems even deep in the SuperDrafts (of course, there are a few dogs in every first round too...) Davis' list is interesting, but he could have gone further:

37th overall, 2006: Johnathan Bornstein. Geez. The guy's left-footed-- sometimes it seems like a one-legged man could play in MLS, as long as he's left-footed. What took people so long to see the potential in the US National Team defender?

35th overall, 2005: Gonzalo Segares. A starting defender for the Fire almost since he was drafted, a finalist for Rookie of the Year, and a fringe Costa Rican national teamer.

34th overall, 2004: Josh Gros. Though sadly taking a year off from DC United due to effects from a possibly serious head injury, Gros is one of those guys you'd love to have on any team. He works hard, his skill is underrated and he's got a great understanding of the game. He's a workhorse, but even so, earned himself a cap with the US national team against Mexico.

36th overall, 2004: Michael Bradley. The kid who's now a near-lock starter for the national team and who's scored 7 goals from d-mid for his team in Holland was by no means a sure-thing in MLS. Although some fans didn't want to believe it, Bradley started to become an important player in MLS. Still, his game didn't take off until he left for Holland.

21st in the supplemental draft, 1997: Kerry Zavagnin. Another guy who might not be flashy, but who's proved himself in this league. To this day, he'd still start for most teams, and was an occasional national teamer.

Not a bad list for guys who didn't even make Davis' list, right? And this isn't even including guys like Corey Gibbs, who were picked late because they were likely headed overseas (LA in 2002 and Miami in 2001 both took late round fliers on him). It seems a little odd for Davis to include Arnaud and Christman-- both players I like, but who aren't quite on the level of Bradley or Bornstein.

A side note: one of the things that struck me while going down the lists is how much deeper the draft seems to be now. But is that the result of college soccer producing better players (unlikely), the improvement of scouting (definitely possible) or the fact that younger, talented players view MLS as a stable possibility and forego years of college (or simply skip it altogether)? I think all three are all somewhat true, but the latter two probably contribute most the depth of the draft. I'd love to take a look at whether players in the draft are getting younger (I think they are). Of course, the fact that so many decent players have been picked in the third or fourth round in recent years also suggests that, while scouting may have improved, it's still got a ways to go...