MLS SuperDraft: Sporting KC hopes to fortify future defense with pair of Tuesday picks
Sporting Kansas City selected two defenders, Esai Easley of Grand Canyon University and Brett St. Martin from the University of Maryland, in Tuesday’s 2022 MLS SuperDraft.
Sporting KC opted to pass on making a third-round selection in Major League Soccer’s annual draft process.
Expansion team Charlotte FC kicked off the afternoon by selecting Ben Bender, a midfielder who played with Easley at Maryland. A goalkeeper from Indiana, Roman Celentano, went second overall to FC Cincinnati, and FC Dallas rounded out the top three by taking forward Isaiah Parker from St. Louis University.
Sporting KC got on the board with the 22nd overall pick of Easley, a 21-year-old central defender from Grand Canyon, a private university in Phoenix that competes in the Western Athletic Conference.
“It was a little nervy towards the end (of the first round),” Easley said. “But I was confident something good would happen regardless of the situation.”
Sporting KC technical director Brian Bliss said the club had for several years tracked Easley during Grand Canyon’s WAC games against UMKC, and through the college cup and MLS Combine this year.
“He can handle the ball,” Bliss said. “He’s got decent athleticism (and) good size, obviously, that we look for in central defenders. At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to mentality and how a guy can adapt in an MLS system, especially ours.”
When asked how he sees himself fitting in with Sporting KC, Easley aimed high, mentioning recently retired Overland Park native and former SKC and national team star Matt Besler. He also talked about having watched preseason games between Sporting and Phoenix Rising a couple of years ago.
“I watched (Sporting KC coach) Peter (Vermes) make the guys run after their game,” Easley recalled Tuesday evening. “Everyone was pretty shocked, but it makes sense as to what type of coach he is. I love that type of energy, and it just makes players better.”
In the second round Tuesday afternoon, Sporting KC selected St. Martin with the 50th overall pick. He’s a defender who can play both center- and right-back, though Sporting sees him primarily as a right-back.
“He’s an attacking right-back and good on the ball,” Bliss said. “Another reason we took him was he’s technically up to it. Let’s call him a passer and a player, instead of a pure athlete that sometimes teams will draft for.”
St. Martin captained Maryland for the last two seasons and was first-team All-Big Ten in 2021.
Both players will join Sporting KC for preseason camp in Arizona, which begins on Monday. While they’ve succeeded in getting drafted by an MLS team, each will need to earn his respective first-team contract.
Sporting KC has not signed a draft pick to a first-team contract since doing do with first-rounders Graham Smith and Eric Dick in 2018. That’s not necessarily all that unusual. Bliss noted that just two players from the entire 2021 draft class played more than 500 minutes in MLS last year.
“I don’t think this draft class is going to be any different,” Bliss said. “It’ll be difficult for guys to get minutes.
“We also have a B-team for a reason,” Bliss noted, referencing Sporting KC II and the developmental MLS Next Pro league, which debuts this year.
“We can bring guys along through that system and give them opportunities to develop, especially if we see something that’s really pronounced in the preseason.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 4:36 PM with the headline "MLS SuperDraft: Sporting KC hopes to fortify future defense with pair of Tuesday picks."