2021 BSL Draft Recap

The 2021 BSL Draft has concluded and the Alamo City Battle are very happy with how the squad is set to begin the new season. Coming into the draft the club had already inked five players to 2021 contracts.

DESIGNATED PLAYERS: Rodolfo Pizarro - Emanuel Reynoso - Felipe Mora
RETENTION PLAYER: Daryl Dike
RE-ENTRY PLAYER: Cristian Espinoza

Mulling over the remaining available players is never easy but the Battle felt that they were able to put together a formidable squad even with the league seeing its highest number of teams in many years. The front office was forced to scout and put in strategy the likes they've not had to in quite a while. That meant the rest of the league was in the same boat however. With the track record of finding highly valuable players in later rounds that ACSC has, the FO feels very good about how things shaped up.

"Really the only disappointment is that we weren't able to nab our one true targeted player. We wanted Pato but simply weren't in position to make it happen. Other than that we really didn't have any misses, if you will. We had three to four players on our board for each round and only once did we have to look to shuffle priorities. When the keepers started to get pulled we had to jump. So, we just flopped our aim for two rounds. Even with that, we KNEW we had a couple folks on our board that we could steal in the heart and late rounds of the draft. We got 'em too."

Who are the staff referring to with that? One player was the forgotten about Luka Stojanovic. Brought in to be the attacking cog in CHI last season he was lost after just 60m of play. He's back and looks even more fit than when he arrived. Nabbing him in the 7th round could end up being on the level of the Omar Cummings steal that is now league famous. The other is Lassi Lappalainen. The finishing FIN has been a revelation in Montreal and should be a key player this season.

Before the official draft kicked off the Battle had a pick in the Expansion Draft by virtue of a trade that saw disappointment Jurgen Locadia and highly rated Randall Leal leave the team. With that pick the club took Hany Mukhtar of NSH. An overlooked piece of the incredible run the expansion club had in MLS, he is set up to go off this season as NSH has solidified the pieces around him to utilize his playmaking prowess.

Alamo City continued their approach of having two starting caliber GK on the roster with the selections of Pedro Gallese and Joe Willis. The afore mentioned is a known all star while the latter showed up huge for the newly christened Nashville MLS club. He was greatly overlooked for more key names and guys at flashy clubs but Willis and NSH posted NINE shutouts last season, had the highest SHO percent of GK with 20+ matches, was fifth in total saves, and his save percent was sixth in the league. None of that looks to change for the worse this season and with Gallese being a National Team keeper the Battle will need a top end keeper throughout the BSL season.

Next up are Marcelino Moreno and Memo Rodriguez. The struggles for ATL last season are well known but the club looks to rebound in a huge way. Moreno will be the key piece pulling those strings if that's to happen. He looked the part in limited play last year and the Battle believe he'll follow through on the promise he's shown. Memo will be called on to link the attacking outlets for HOU and the Battle are aiming to reap the benefits of that. He's shown what he's capable of and with regular starting minutes and the cloud of uncertainty with those he's supposed to be supplying gone, this could be a rather huge breakout year. 

Yimmi Chara stepped in and showed extremely well in POR and will be called upon even more this year with the two Timber legends seeing their stars wane with age. Paul Arriola is in the same boat as Stojanovic as he's coming of a lost year. He too though is going to be expected to be a key piece of his club's hopes in attack. He's more than proven it several times before, that he can be the center of things. 

The Battle took some fliers too. Freddy Vargas is dynamic and doesn't seem to be too much of a risk but he may have inconsistent minutes with FCD's loaded front. Rodrigo Pineiro may end up a steal if he can crack the attacking line and solidify playing time. He could end up a long term investment. Cal Jennings potentially has the most upside and potential payoff of anyone in the league this year. LAFC paid a transfer fee to bring him in from the USL and all they do is create chances. A true poacher and scorer, this could be a Hollywood script being written before our eyes. The final selection of the draft was Kevin Cabral who will be coming in to an LAG squad looking to rebound from a dreadful season. He's a pacy, skilled winger that has torn up France. The last time the Battle had a flank player out of France it worked out pretty well.