State of MLS Analytics: April 2022

Over the last few years, analytics in MLS has been turned on its head. Whereas five years ago if a team had one person “doing analytics” it was a big deal. Now, questions are asked if a club doesn’t and it is not uncommon for clubs to have multiple people on staff. With the hiring of the league’s first general manager that came up through analytics, DC United’s Lucy Rushton, a new system was needed to grade MLS teams. This system is not based on how well teams utilize analytics like previous editions, in part because that can be very hard to know from the outside, but on the number of people a team employs to do it. 

Former ASA Contributor Kevin Minkus, who is now Director of Analytics for Chicago Fire, wrote Soccer Analytics 101 over at MLSsoccer.com where he defined analytics as “using data and statistics to better understand something.” For the purposes of deciding what MLS teams have an analytics staff member the “something” is player recruitment and tactical analysis. I’m talking about using numbers and mathematical models (e.g. xG, xA, g+) to help evaluate transfer targets and team and player performance. 

The starting point here is math, not video, although video and the eye test will always be an important step in the process. We’re defining this as separate from sports science, where data and statistics are used to mainly evaluate a team’s own players’ physical performance, things like training loads and injury prevention. Furthermore, it is different from business analytics where data and statistics are used to drive more monetary value for a club, but is not focused on the sporting side.

There is no doubt that MLS staff members wear multiple hats. Just because you have the job title of “data analyst” doesn’t mean you won’t be recruited to film a training session, break down video, or drive new players to Canada to get a visa. Similarly, a sports scientist, video analyst, or performance analyst may spend part of their time looking at statistics as part of their work flow. But there is a difference between using analytics as part of your job and analytics being your job, and for this we will be counting the latter.

There have been a number of changes in MLS analytics staffs since the last update. Notably, Lucy Rushton was named General Manager at DC United, Ravi Ramineni left Seattle to take a new role with sports analytics startup Blue Crow, Caleb Shreve left Nashville to become Director of Analytics for Orlando City, and the San Jose Earthquakes hired Lucy Rowland from the Canadian Soccer Association, among others.

Based upon public knowledge and some private communications, and knowing full well that anyone outside a club can’t really know what is going on inside, here are the tiers of MLS analytics and what we know about each team:

Tier 0: Nerd Boss.

If you appoint a GM from an analytics background you end up in tier 0. Them's the rules. 

DC United: Lucy Rushton was recruited from Atlanta United to be GM last April. She has discussed analytics and how she uses it numerous times on various podcasts, was profiled about data on majorleaguesoccersoccer.com, and was recently part of a soccer analytics panel at Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Technical Director Stewart Mairs previously worked for Prozone one of the commercial pioneers in analytics. DC also recently hired Blake Parry as a Data Scientist.

Tier 1: It takes a village to raise an expected goal.

These are MLS clubs that have at least two full-time analytics staff members, an actual department. 

Colorado Rapids: Fran Taylor, previously profiled on this site, is the assistant general manager and co-founder of an analytics company that was purchased by Arsenal. We don’t hear much about what he and data analyst Matt Pfeffer, a former hockey analyst, are doing, but we can be assured that they are among the analytics teams with the most front office influence in MLS. ASA’s own Benjamin Bellman is an Associate Data Analyst for the Rapids.

LAFC: Max Odenheimer, LAFC’s Director of Scouting and Analytics, previously published analytics work at StatsBomb. VP of Soccer Operations and Assistant General Manager Will Kuntz has a baseball analytics background. Kuntz and former head coach Bob Bradley talked about analytics on the StatsBomb podcast.

Nashville SC: One of Nashville’s first front office hirings was Oliver Miller-Farrel from Opta, the leading provider of soccer data. Following the departure of Caleb Shreve to Orlando, Nashville hired Data Scientist Addison Wood and Software Developer Austin Wills.

New York City FC: NYCFC is able to tap into the City Football Group analytics group including Lead AI Scientist Laurie Shaw. Shaw holds a PhD in Astrophysics, was a lecturer at Harvard, and was one of the leaders of The Friends of Tracking project in 2020. Locally Clark Thompson is NYCFC’s Football Insights Analyst after previously holding the same position at fellow CFG club Girona.

New York Red Bulls: American Soccer Analysis’ Sam Goldberg, of DAVIES fame, is the Data Scientist for RBNY. RBNY can also tap into Red Bull’s global network which includes former ASA contributor Tom Worville at RB Leipzig. 

Orlando City: With new ownership, Orlando has finally decided that soccer actually is played on a spreadsheet and poached Caleb Shreve from Nashville as their new director of analytics to prove it. The department includes data engineer Pranav Nagarajan and an unnamed data scientist.

Philadelphia Union: Dean Costalas is Director of Soccer Analysis for the Union and Addison Hunsicker is their Data Analyst. What the Union are doing in the analytics space is shrouded in mystery. 

San Jose Earthquakes: Being in Silicon Valley, the Quakes should have a natural affinity for analytics, but that was not the case until now. San Jose went on a hiring spree bringing in two directors in Lucy Rowland from the Canadian Football Association and Grant Wenzinger formerly with tracking data provider Second Spectrum, and Aditya Nag as strategist.

Seattle Sounders: Tyler Cox returned home to Seattle after years working with Arsenal to pick up the baton left by Ravi Ramineni’s departure to analytics startup Blue Crow. The Sounders also employ data engineer Kyle Beck.  

Toronto FC: Devin Pleuler is the director of analytics for Toronto. He wrote an analytics column for MLSSoccer.com and worked for Opta prior to joining Toronto. Pleuler is one of the world leaders in the soccer analytics space and routinely presents at conferences such as Sloan and NESSIS. He has also been profiled in The Athletic. Arthur Casupanan is manager of scouting and data analysis. The Toronto FC data team also has access to support from other Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment staff (Raptors, Maple Leafs, Argonauts).

Vancouver Whitecaps: The Whitecaps have previously invested heavily into sports science, hiring multiple PhDs in the field, headed by Ben Sporer including data scientist Johann Windt (who recently wrote about data visualization in sports). Nikos Overheul, previously with StatsBomb, is their Director of Recruitment and is heavily invested in analytics.  

Tier 2: What would you say…you do here?

These are the clubs that have one full-time staff member, regardless of how well regarded this single person is or how many interns the team may have.

Atlanta United: American Soccer Analysis alumnus Arjun Balaraman was hired as Atlanta’s data scientist following Lucy Rushton’s move to DC.
Austin FC: Hayden Van Brewer, former Fleetwood Town and FC Cincinnati, was hired as Manager of Data and Analytics by Austin FC following the departure of Cory Jez.

Chicago Fire: ASA contributor, 2018 US Soccer Hackathon champion, Chicago native, and SpongeBob SquarePants aficionado Kevin Minkus is the Fire’s Director of Analytics. The Fire are hiring a software developer, so may move up a tier when and if the position is filled.

Columbus Crew: The Crew’s data analyst Alex Mysiw holds a masters in bioinformatics and has been on staff since 2016. The Crew also utilizes Villanova professor Bret Myers as an analytics consultant. Again, we don’t hear much about what the Crew are doing in analytics, but General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko has a long history from his time in Toronto.

Inter Miami: Miami hired Sam Gregory a long-time leading contributor to the soccer analytics community, as Director of Analytics in 2021. His 2021 NESSIS presentation on removing unconscious bias in soccer broadcasts is a must-watch.

New England Revolution: Tim Crawford is the longest-serving data analyst in MLS. He talked about his role at the 2019 OptaPro Conference in Chicago. Additionally, team video coordinator Todd Kingston joined the Revs from Opta. Revs President Brian Bilello is also an ASA fan.

Real Salt Lake: Vahe Tanielian is the director of data analytics for RSL. He has a finance background and his only publicly available analytics publication is related to NBA salaries.

Tier 3: Game 's not played on a spreadsheet, mate.

These clubs do not have an analytics staffer listed on their club site or is otherwise unknown. These clubs may use contractors or farm out their data recruitment and/or tactical analysis to analytics companies (e.g. StatsBomb, 21st Club, SciSports, SmarterScout, etc.), or prefer to keep their in-house staff hidden for some reason. If you are a member of the front office of any of these clubs and need some pointers, contact us.

Charlotte FC:  Head of Analytics, Mark Simpson, recently left the club to return to youth club NC Fusion. Charlotte’s recruitment department features a trio of Dutchmen with data familiarity in Thomas Schaling, Lisandro Isei, and Vincent van Raam, but there is no dedicated analytics staff member to our knowledge. 

FC Cincinnati: In the last year, FC Cincinnati have seen the departures of two heads of analytics in Alexander Schram (to PFF FC)  and Hayden Van Brewer (to Austin FC). They currently don’t have any analytics employees, although given their history will likely hire someone in the not distant future.

FC Dallas: MLSSoccer.com listed assistant coach Mikey Varas as liaising with their third-party analytics provider Kin Analytics, but Varas has left for the U-20 men’s national team. Given that new head coach Nico Estévez worked with Gregg Berhalter in Columbus and with the USMNT, he likely is aware of analytics and perhaps one day the club will hire for an analytics role.

Houston Dynamo: The Dynamo do not currently have an analytics employee. ASA’s Sean Steffen was formerly Houston’s data analyst and should be hired by any MLS team needing a data analyst.  

LA Galaxy: According to MLS, general manager Dennis te Kloese heads up analytics for the Galaxy and talked about it briefly in a November 2020 podcast (skip to 32:20), but he’s gone now to Feyenoord. Rumors have swirled that the Galaxy may begin to invest in analytics, but nothing has been made public and we don’t know if or when this may happen (note: this has not changed in over a year).

Minnesota United: According to MLS, director of player personnel Amos Magee heads up analytics for Minnesota. However, no one is currently employed for the Loons in an analytics role but had an advertisement up for an intern.

Club de Foot Montréal: According to MLS, assistant sporting director Vassili Cremanzidis heads up analytics for Montreal. He has experience as a performance analyst and his role is described as “managing the first team’s salary cap, as well as preparing and structuring player contracts.”

Portland Timbers: Portland Timbers do not currently have a data analyst. When in college, one-time ASA contributor Brendan Kent served as their data analyst.

Sporting Kansas City: Ash Wallace is SKC’s tactical analyst and was listed by MLS as their analytics practitioner. We don’t know his analytics expertise, and, given that Peter Vermes is an “analytics guru,” maybe no one else is needed. Current Kansas House of Representatives member Rui Xu was formerly SKC’s performance and statistical analyst. 

St. Louis City: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯