Sporting KC 2019 Year in Review: Jaylin Lindsey

The 2019 MLS season is one Sporting Kansas City fans will be looking to forget. But with a very long offseason ahead that may not have soccer until March (assuming no MLSPA strike), we feel compelled to look back at the good and the bad from 2019. For the full list of players reviewed, head to our dedicated Year in Review page.

The Blue Testament continues our look back at 2019 with a player who unfortunately, missed most of the 2019 season for the entire organization — Jaylin Lindsey.

2019 MLS Stats*

Games Played (Started): 1 (1)

Minutes Played: 90

Games Suspended: 0

Goals: 0

Assists: 0

xG (expected goals): 0.00

Positions Played: Right back

2019 Salary: $88,000.00

Contract Through (Option Years): 2021 (2022)

*All stats from 2019 MLS regular season unless otherwise noted.

2019 USL Championship Stats

Because he played more in USL than in MLS, it only seemed right to give a wider berth of stats. Apologies to Graham Smith and Gedion Zelalem who didn’t quite get this treatment.

Games Played (Started): 14 (13)

Minutes Played: 1,172

Games Suspended: 0

Goals: 0

Assists: 1

Best Moment of 2019

When you make just a single first team appearance in the year you have a clear opening to become the starter, best moments are really tough to come by.

Worst Moment of 2019

The reason Lindsey didn’t break into the first team is because of the worst moment that ultimately undid his 2019. Lindsey had a meniscus injury that was suffered outside of training or a game. There is no official word on what led to the injury, but it was nearly a lost season for Lindsey (outside of his time with the Swope Park Rangers). When Graham Zusi played as bad as he did in 2019, that’s a missed opportunity.

Interesting Stat

Seven. That’s the number of appearances that Lindsey had with Sporting KC in 2018 (six starts). Obviously, getting hurt was a big part of it. But Lindsey played quite a bit down the stretch for SPR but only got onto the field for SKC on the final day in the 6-0 disaster against FC Dallas. It would have been nice to see more of him down the stretch (especially with Zusi’s form and SKC out of playoff contention) but instead we are left with this one disastrous appearance.

Fan Vote: Keep, Banish or Wait

Keep: 88.3%

Banish: 4.9%

Wait: 6.8%

Lindsey was behind only Johnny Russell, Felipe Gutierrez, Gianluca Busio and Tim Melia in the “keep” category. He’ll be only 20 in March and hopefully he can push for a lot more first team minutes in 2020. Staying healthy, which he has except for this injury, will be key. Also, it’ll be about effort. For as bad of a year as Zusi had, he always tries hard and there are small moments where it looks like Lindsey may not be trying quite as hard.