Sporting KC Cap Busy Week With Superdraft Pick, Colton Storm

Colton Storm is a naturally left-footed fullback out of the UNC. He has shown a decent amount of attacking prowess from the back, but is overall a sound defensive left back. For Sporting KC, they love their fullbacks to push forward and provide help in the attack. He can do that, but you won’t see significant offensive numbers out of him. The biggest question here is will he see the field for Sporting KC. The answer is likely no.

Sporting KC are absolutely stacked at both fullback positions. Obviously one and two on the depth chart are Seth Sinovic and Jimmy Medranda. Even if they see Medranda as a winger, Tyler Pasher easily steps up to take the second spot on the depth chart. We’ll likely see Storm with Swope Park Rangers for most of the season. Ventura Alvarado has departed the club, and the promotion of Pasher to the first team makes Swope Park the perfect landing spot for Storm, a chance to get his feet wet and earn his keep. Storm’s selection puts a cap on an extremely busy week for Sporting.

Signings Just Keep on Coming

This week, Sporting KC announced the signings of Latif Blessing, Illie Sanchez, Cameron Iwasa, and Andrew Dykstra, as well as acquiring Christian Volesky in a trade with Portland.

Blessing and Sanchez are expected to compete for minutes. Sanchez spent time with the Barcelona youth setup and is a defensive midfielder, while Latif Blessing is an exciting prospect out of Ghana.

Cameron Iwasa was a very good attacker for Sacramento Republic over the last two seasons, scoring 12 goals for them in their 2016 campaign. Volesky’s rights were traded from Portland to Sporting. He scored ten goals in his 2016 campaign with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (USL). I’m expecting for Volesky and Iwasa to compete for the third striker spot and be there while Diego Rubio heals from the torn ACL.

Dykstra was selected in the MLS Re-Entry draft from D.C. United. He comes in and replaces Alec Kann as the number two keeper, who was taken in the Expansion Draft by Atlanta United FC.

Most of Sporting KC’s moves have been to fill out the depth chart. A decent amount of these acquisitions, via draft, trade, or regular transfers, will be spending time with Swope Park Rangers this season. There might be one or two moves left to be made in the 2017 offseason, but for the most part it seems like this will be the last significant addition before we head into pre-season.