The state of Washington and the city of Seattle are among the top producers of MLS talent, according to a recent study by the league.
Washington was credited with being the birthplace of 15 MLS players — the seventh most of any state — which includes six players who were born in Seattle. Only Toronto (17) and New York City (11) were listed as the birthplace for more MLS players.
Adjusted for state population, only New Jersey (2.10 MLS players per million residents) and Maryland (2.05) produce more players than Washington (1.92).
Of those six Seattleites, only Spencer Richey (Chicago Fire) and DeAndre Yedlin (FC Cincinnati) don’t currently play for the Sounders, although both did at one point. The list of Washingtonians in MLS has a bit more non-Sounders representation, with Hassani Dotson (Minnesota United), Nate Jones (Colorado Rapids), Christian Olivares (St. Louis City) and Ethan Bartlow (Houston Dynamo).
It should also be noted that there appear to be some issues with the MLS dataset. For instance, it originally listed Trey Muse as being born in Tukwila, but in reality he was born in Lexington, Kentucky, while it didn’t list Fox Island’s Stuart Hawkins at all. In this case, those equaled out for Washington, but it does suggest there were likely similar issues elsewhere.
