2008 Supplemental Draft Preview

The Supplemental Draft exists as a procedural oddity to most MLS fans. Most of those interested in the SuperDraft for one week a year start to lose their steam by the middle of the second round, much less make it through to the conference call of rounds 5-8 a week later. But I've always had a soft spot for this second draft, ever since we got to listen to the call way back in 2005, hearing John Ellinger and Sigi Schmid sounding like they had just woken up. The Supplemental Draft may never determine the ultimate fortunes of teams, but it is another chance for the smart teams to gain a little ground on the less smart ones.

Most of the players selected today won't even make it to opening day rosters, but you might be surprised by the number that actually do something. A quick look at the 2007 draft shows a quite a few have already done something: Aaron Hohlbein, Gary Flood, Guy-Roland Kpene, and Tyler Hemming have seen decent minutes; Anthony Hamilton, Kosuke Kimura, Dustin Kirby, Osei Telesford, Danny Cepero, Ryan Junge, and Sal Caccavale have seen a little time or are tipped to be possible future contributors; and Chris Konopka and especially Daryl Roberts have made some impression overseas, Roberts by becoming a big goalscorer at Sparta Rotterdam. That's fully 25% of the draft who have done enough to stick in my mind in just one year.

If even five players out of this draft become big-minute role players in MLS, it makes it worth a look. Better to be one of the teams that finds one or two contributors in that 10% than one that wastes their time. Building a strong reserve program has its own benefits as well, improving practices and helping the development of serious youth prospects. Best of all, the Supplemental Draft, despite its humble nature, is a moment for deserving players to bask in the exciting fatalism of being drafted into pro sports, before the severity of professional life and small developmental salary become all too real.

So, here's my mock. There is really no point to try and guess this - this is largely for my own enjoyment, to see if I can get any picks right at all. To make this draft, I took my existing player database and threw in a random element to match up with the seeming randomness of the Draft itself. This is not my list of the next best 56 players - many of my favorite remaining prospects did not make this mock. What I'm hoping is to replicate my greatest achievement in my many years of charting MLS drafts - the time in 2002 when my mock correctly nailed the 70th and final pick of the SuperDraft - Lars Lyssand.

Mock Supplementary Draft

Round 1

1. San Jose – Kenny Cook D 6.5 180 UMass (Fairport, NY)
2. Toronto – John Gilkerson D 6.0 175 Winthrop (Winchester, VA)
3. Colorado – Jason Landers G 6.7 205 Saint John’s (Lower Gwynedd, PA)
4. Los Angeles – Ryan Maduro M 5.10 170 Providence (Bristol, RI)
5. Colorado – Murphy Wiredu F 5.7 160 Saint Peter’s (Brampton, ON)
6. Columbus – El Hadj Cisse M 5.11 172 North Carolina State (New York, NY)
7. New York – Scott Bolkan D 6.2 180 Stanford (Salem, OR)
8. New England – Kenny Anaba F 6.2 195 Cincinnati (Westerville, OH)
9. Chivas USA – Andre Sherard D 5.10 170 North Carolina (Greenville, NC)
10. DC United – Billy Chiles G 6.3 195 Towson (Silver Spring, MD)
11. Kansas City – Xavier Balc M/F 6.0 185 Ohio State (Hudson, OH)
12. Chicago – Lukasz Tumicz F 5.10 175 Rhode Island (Bisztynek, Poland)
13. New England – Simon Schoendorf F/M 6.1 175 South Florida (Karlsruhe, Germany)
14. Houston – Sherron Manswell F 6.1 180 Boston College (Maracas, Trinidad)

Round 2

15. San Jose – Michael Gavin D 5.10 Portland (Scottsdale, AZ)
16. Toronto – Kai Kasiguran M 5.11 165 Messiah (Oakwood Village, OH)
17. Salt Lake – Ben Shuleva M 5.11 175 SMU (Dublin, OH)
18. Los Angeles – Matt Tracy D 6.2 200 Cal State Northridge (Newport Beach, CA)
19. Colorado – Zola Short D 5.10 160 Virginia (Arlington, VA)
20. Columbus – Cesar Zambrano M 6.1 162 Illinois-Chicago (Chicago, IL)
21. New York – Chris Rodd D 6.3 190 San Francisco (Danville, CA)
22. Dallas – Matt Hoff M 5.10 155 Harvard (Saint Louis, MO)
23. Chivas USA – Kevin Forrest F 5.11 170 Washington (Edmonds, WA)
24. DC United – Pat Healy M 5.11 160 Towson (Bel Air, MD)
25. Kansas City – Adrian Bumbut F 5.7 140 Liberty (Zalau, Romania)
26. Chicago – Adam Chavez D 6.1 190 Binghamton (Endicott, NY)
27. New England – Tim Jepson D 6.0 175 Duke (Yorba Linda, CA)
28. Houston – Brandon Owens D 6.1 170 UCLA (Murrieta, CA)

Round 3

29. San Jose – Drew DeGurian M 6.0 170 Bradley (Naperville, IL)
30. Toronto – Frank Jonke F 6.3 180 Louisville (Pickering, ON)
31. Salt Lake – Greg Folk D 5.9 165 UCLA (Woodland Hills, CA)
32. Los Angeles – Daniel Brown M 5.9 155 Midwestern State (Arlington, TX)
33. Colorado – Kyle Altman D 6.1 170 Trinity (TX) (Albuquerque, NM)
34. Columbus – Corey Sipos D 6.2 175 Akron (Tucson, AZ)
35. New York – Steve Kalan M 5.10 165 Akron (Highland Heights, OH)
36. Dallas – Andrew Wheeler F 6.3 180 York (PA) (Baltimore, MD)
37. Chivas USA – Kraig Chiles M 5.11 185 San Diego State (San Diego, CA)
38. DC United – Kenzo Webster F 5.9 Michigan State (Monroe, MI)
39. Kansas City – Paul Dudley F 6.7 220 Duke (Warminster, PA)
40. Chicago – Adam Montgomery M 5.9 150 Memphis (Morristown, TN)
41. New England – Spencer Allen M 5.8 145 Maryland (Washington, DC)
42. Houston – Chukwudi Chijindu F 5.10 175 UConn (Fontana, CA)

Round 4

43. San Jose – K.J. Lenehan D 6.0 175 Cal Poly (Escondido, CA)
44. Toronto – Brad Peetoom D 6.1 180 Syracuse (Abbotsford, BC)
45. Salt Lake – Mkhokheli Dube F 6.0 155 Coastal Carolina (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)
46. Los Angeles – Travis MacKenzie M 5.10 175 Duquesne (Carnegie, PA)
47. Colorado – Jeff Lenix D/M 5.7 163 Marshall (Westerville, OH)
48. Chicago – Ismael Ibarra F 6.0 San Jose State (Salinas, CA)
49. New York – Tanner Wolfe F 5.7 145 Stetson (Hudson, FL)
50. Dallas – Nelson Pizarro M 5.10 Lincoln Memorial (Pembroke Pines, FL)
51. Chivas USA – Jay Ayres D 6.1 Belmont (Valrico, FL)
52. DC United – Chris Tierney D/M 6.0 180 Virgina (Wellesley, MA)
53. Kansas City – Dan Stratford M 5.11 155 West Virginia (London, England)
54. Chicago – Jeff Stepan D 5.9 170 D Saint John’s (Fremont, CA)
55. New England – Javier Ayala-Hil F 5.8 160 California (East Palo Alto, CA)
56. Houston – Jason Cascio F/M 5.10 170 Seattle U. (Gilbert, AZ)