So our first-day haul was: Tanner Beason - D, Stanfurd - LB or CB. Jack Skahan - W, UNC - Can he play outside mid or outside back? Jon Bell - D, UMBC, we need more defenders. If Beason can give us useful minutes, that will be good. If we get anything out of Skahan or Bell, this season or next, it will have been a successful draft. But I don't expect any of these three to be starters out of the gate. Maybe Beason works his way into the starting rotation at left-back after two or three months, because we basically do not have a starting left-back at this point. Jack Skahan is a winger, so depending on how we or he views that, is he a left-back? or a left-mid? Either way, he could be useful. As for Jon Bell, well, we need more defenders. Hopefully he's a good one. Do we have anyone in Reno we could call up to provide some cover for our defensive line? I'm not sure, and I can't figure much out from the Reno website. Dang. Go Quakes!! Fisher OUT!! - Mark
I heard something on the way to work that Almeyda's intention is to loan Beason out to Reno immediately. Given the gap between MLS and college that has developed, that does not surprise me at all. Draftees are now long term projects. Even Haji, who was much higher rated, struggled for playing time last year. Heck, Hillard Arce is playing for sac republic now
What did it mean to get Tanner Beason in today’s draft?@JesseFioranelli’s reaction says it all.Go behind the scenes in the war room to see what went down in selecting our 12th pick. pic.twitter.com/RUCx2uO2QK— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) January 10, 2020
Welcome to the family. #VamosSJ https://t.co/JWrGJk705t— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) January 9, 2020
I've seen Beason play many times at Stanford. Very solid defender. Started on the left and moved to center over time. He took PKs for them--and I'm not sure he ever missed one. Stanford plays pretty much safety first in the back, so I'm not sure what he has to offer in attack. He was a captain and definitely has a leadership personality.
He had 20 goals and 11 assists in 81 appearances (all starts). Those are incredible numbers for a defender, and better than many midfielders.
Who has a defender taking PKs? Especially a three-time championship caliber team? Sounds like he must be pretty poised.
My son's first year of HS, he was a central defender on the JV team and took all their PKs. He led the conference in scoring that year (about half the goals were PKs).
It’s always nice to get the guy you wanted. I got the impression that the Quakes would have selected Beason if they would have been higher in the draft order.
That's true. When Stanford earned a PK (at least the last year or two), there was no doubt who was going to take it.
We got a B- in their opinion. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/01/09/2020-mls-superdraft-grades-travis-clark
Vanney used to take them for the Galaxy. I don't think I ever saw him miss, and he always crushed them. No nonsense or cuteness, just pure confidence. Similarly, even with all of their other stars, I'd have Milner take them every time for Liverpool.
Why not? I'd bet the reason most teams have a forward taking PKs can be chalked up more to ego (of the forward) than to which player has the highest conversion rate.
We won't know how good those selections are or aren't until much, much later. Grading the draft is a crap shoot. At least we drafted guys at positions where we need help and will probably still need help next year. Even if they all suck, it was the right idea. Go Quakes!! - Mark
I was barely paying attention, but didn't Matt Doyle make some comment during the live stream about how Stanford defenders haven't translated to MLS as well as other positions, and that Hilliard Arce was much higher rated by scouts than Beason and is out of MLS already? The Quakes' Beason pick starts right around the 1:00:00 mark helpfully: They also discuss both how Stanford plays and how the Quakes play, and how the former may have helped protect him and why the latter may be more difficult for him. Edit: Just to clarify I'm not criticizing the pick, just pointing out the analysis. I know nothing about the dude but assume it's a decent pick based on the mock drafts... it's not like you can get a sure thing with the #12 pick they're all going to have their issues, and at least this guy is a leader, versatile, and a left footed CB ("a slower Matt Besler" they said)... It will be interesting to look back in a few years and compare our three picks with another team that had similar level picks and got an A- to our B- (also because we passed on Jennings and a couple different mock drafts had us selecting Ferriol):
Exactly. During PK tie breakers in the tournaments I've played in, the guys that are usually on offense try to crush the shot and usually shank. The defenders usually just place the ball and generally make it.
We have decided to pass in the 3rd and 4th round of the @MLS #SuperDraft.— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) January 13, 2020