2025-01-12, 01:33 AM - Word count:
(This post was last modified: 2025-01-12, 04:16 PM by Pythonic. Edited 3 times in total.)
While the major and minor leagues have just finished up battling it out for their respective league titles, the up and coming draftees are still stretching their legs in the Academy while they wait for the next draft to come around. For Academy teams themselves, being the draft farm league means that stats from one season typically don't affect performance in the next season -- they don't see the same amount of development that a major or minor league team would. That doesn't mean it's not fun to look at the stats and recap the class's performance in the season!
Note that all data used is based on the 32 players of the S19 draft class that participated in the Academy in season 18, up to matchday 13. It does not include any data from players who did not play in the Academy, nor those who played but were not members of the S19 class. Worth noting as well is that Victoria Falls does not feature any players from the S19 class, therefore they will not be included in any data, and that we will only be looking at outfielder stats.
Let's just remind ourselves of what the class is looking at TPE and position count wise, especially given that there has been some change since my class outlook article:
![[Image: wkjbGWR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/wkjbGWR.png)
![[Image: odZiKI5.png]](https://i.imgur.com/odZiKI5.png)
Some big changes have been made since then! Congratulations to Aart de Trella (@trëlla) on being the first in the class to hit 500 TPE.
To get into the actual data, let's first start off with the general outlook on the offense of the S19 class and their teams:
![[Image: Ov7v50d.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Ov7v50d.png)
By and large, the three teams with S19 draftees are equal when it comes to their offenses. Leaguewide averages stand at 27 goals, 19.3 assists, 32.21% shot accuracy, 26.74% crossing, 46% heading, and 86.96% passing, with the only real standouts in these stats coming in the form of Atlético's runaway 38.72% crossing and Stockholm IK's leading 25 team assists. Outside of these outliers, every team is well within standard deviation range per stat.
Stockholm's 25 assists and top pass percentage of 87.93% seem to play hand-in-hand with each other, and it makes sense given that they have the top three S19 class players in assists in the Academy, who you'll see later in the article (no spoilers!). Unfortunately, these weren't enough to get them out of 3rd place as of matchday 14.
Atlético's management also really ought to get their S19 players to convert better on crosses! Just because it's a successfully placed cross doesn't mean you're going to convert anything off of it, as shown by the lackluster 45.06% heading... but hey, they currently sit at 1st in the Academy going into matchday 15.
Sydney's pretty-much average performance in everything from their S19ers earned them a similarly average 2nd place in the league so far.
![[Image: DeqLnIn.png]](https://i.imgur.com/DeqLnIn.png)
The most important of the offensive stats: can a player kick the ball good, and get it somewhere where it'll do something? The top three class leaders in goals are actually all on separate teams! Atlético's Kim Heung-min (@r1c3bowl22) and Stockholm IK's Malachi Shturm (@Alexei3755) are tied for first, both with 9 goals. Coming in behind those two is Sydney City's Tre Qartista (@ulaire).
On a more impressive note, Kim Heung-min was able to score his nine goals in just the same amount of appearances, compared to Malachi Shturm's nine goals in 10 appearances. Slightly less impressive, but we love both players just the same. Heung-min also did this while being a positional LAM, unlike STs Shturm and Qartista.
One very interesting player from this class again is Aart de Trella - who manages to defy the positional odds of being a CD, bagging a nice 4 goals in 13 appearances. However, his greedy performance resulted in 0 assists. Be less selfish!
One of the most efficient assist-makers per appearance is Jake Morrison (@WildfireMicro), who picked up 5 assists in 7 appearances, well over a 70% assist rate. Morrison also notched a goal for an 85.7% points rate.
The best point-getters overall are Kim Heung-min who scored 11 points total in his 9 appearances, Zach Mulder (@MightyMulder) who went for 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points in 7 appearances, and Carolien Miedema (@LtForestPuppy) with 5 goals, 7 assists in 13 appearances--the only player to appear in every match as of the most recent index update.
Of course, goals, assists, and points aren't the only stats you can realistically look at when judging players - you have to look at some more niche items as well.
![[Image: VmcoHxk.png]](https://i.imgur.com/VmcoHxk.png)
The first thing you can really look at is successful pass percentage; sometimes players just don't shoot the ball or their passing work to get the ball up goes unmarked on the scoresheet for one reason or another.
Only eight players manage to complete their passes over 90% of the time, with the top 3 leaders being first place David Luiz Jr. (@G2019), second place Valentin Morgenstern, and unsurprisingly in third place is the class's TPE leader Aart de Trella. These three have left their mark on the Academy this season, being the only three to pass above 93% throughout their season.
William Charlito (@Bradshaw23) barely got a chance to show off his skillset this season, only appearing in one match as of the last Academy index update, so we'll write off his 76.47% passing as a small sample size. This means that Tre Qartista wins the privilege of being the worst percentage-passer in the Academy. Given that he scored 8 goals and notched 3 assists as well, it's safe to say that he can make do. Outside of these two, everyone has above 80% passing success.
![[Image: OgkC6b0.png]](https://i.imgur.com/OgkC6b0.png)
Now a little something for the defenders, who might not be the best at getting points but are certainly great at preventing plays from getting started--or ending.
Aart de Trella and his freakishly long reach once again dominate over the rest of the players, he totals 1.6x the amount of interceptions that second place Cameron Millwall (@stevo) does, with 47 to Millwall's 29. de Trella is also tied for second place in the league in blocks, with 8. First place is a three-way tie between Cameron Millwall, Coin Flip (@midknight), and David Luiz Jr., each with 9 blocks.
--
Overall, the S19 class has put in a strong season in their Academy seasons. Standout players like de Trella and Heung-min have almost certainly improved their draft stock with impressive matchday performances, but the question remains, of course, what are teams looking for in the upcoming S19 draft? Perhaps these performances won't be enough to move them up in the draft, perhaps something will come up that causes favor to fall.
Note that all data used is based on the 32 players of the S19 draft class that participated in the Academy in season 18, up to matchday 13. It does not include any data from players who did not play in the Academy, nor those who played but were not members of the S19 class. Worth noting as well is that Victoria Falls does not feature any players from the S19 class, therefore they will not be included in any data, and that we will only be looking at outfielder stats.
Let's just remind ourselves of what the class is looking at TPE and position count wise, especially given that there has been some change since my class outlook article:
Some big changes have been made since then! Congratulations to Aart de Trella (@trëlla) on being the first in the class to hit 500 TPE.
To get into the actual data, let's first start off with the general outlook on the offense of the S19 class and their teams:
By and large, the three teams with S19 draftees are equal when it comes to their offenses. Leaguewide averages stand at 27 goals, 19.3 assists, 32.21% shot accuracy, 26.74% crossing, 46% heading, and 86.96% passing, with the only real standouts in these stats coming in the form of Atlético's runaway 38.72% crossing and Stockholm IK's leading 25 team assists. Outside of these outliers, every team is well within standard deviation range per stat.
Stockholm's 25 assists and top pass percentage of 87.93% seem to play hand-in-hand with each other, and it makes sense given that they have the top three S19 class players in assists in the Academy, who you'll see later in the article (no spoilers!). Unfortunately, these weren't enough to get them out of 3rd place as of matchday 14.
Atlético's management also really ought to get their S19 players to convert better on crosses! Just because it's a successfully placed cross doesn't mean you're going to convert anything off of it, as shown by the lackluster 45.06% heading... but hey, they currently sit at 1st in the Academy going into matchday 15.
Sydney's pretty-much average performance in everything from their S19ers earned them a similarly average 2nd place in the league so far.
The most important of the offensive stats: can a player kick the ball good, and get it somewhere where it'll do something? The top three class leaders in goals are actually all on separate teams! Atlético's Kim Heung-min (@r1c3bowl22) and Stockholm IK's Malachi Shturm (@Alexei3755) are tied for first, both with 9 goals. Coming in behind those two is Sydney City's Tre Qartista (@ulaire).
On a more impressive note, Kim Heung-min was able to score his nine goals in just the same amount of appearances, compared to Malachi Shturm's nine goals in 10 appearances. Slightly less impressive, but we love both players just the same. Heung-min also did this while being a positional LAM, unlike STs Shturm and Qartista.
One very interesting player from this class again is Aart de Trella - who manages to defy the positional odds of being a CD, bagging a nice 4 goals in 13 appearances. However, his greedy performance resulted in 0 assists. Be less selfish!
One of the most efficient assist-makers per appearance is Jake Morrison (@WildfireMicro), who picked up 5 assists in 7 appearances, well over a 70% assist rate. Morrison also notched a goal for an 85.7% points rate.
The best point-getters overall are Kim Heung-min who scored 11 points total in his 9 appearances, Zach Mulder (@MightyMulder) who went for 4 goals and 4 assists for 8 points in 7 appearances, and Carolien Miedema (@LtForestPuppy) with 5 goals, 7 assists in 13 appearances--the only player to appear in every match as of the most recent index update.
Of course, goals, assists, and points aren't the only stats you can realistically look at when judging players - you have to look at some more niche items as well.
The first thing you can really look at is successful pass percentage; sometimes players just don't shoot the ball or their passing work to get the ball up goes unmarked on the scoresheet for one reason or another.
Only eight players manage to complete their passes over 90% of the time, with the top 3 leaders being first place David Luiz Jr. (@G2019), second place Valentin Morgenstern, and unsurprisingly in third place is the class's TPE leader Aart de Trella. These three have left their mark on the Academy this season, being the only three to pass above 93% throughout their season.
William Charlito (@Bradshaw23) barely got a chance to show off his skillset this season, only appearing in one match as of the last Academy index update, so we'll write off his 76.47% passing as a small sample size. This means that Tre Qartista wins the privilege of being the worst percentage-passer in the Academy. Given that he scored 8 goals and notched 3 assists as well, it's safe to say that he can make do. Outside of these two, everyone has above 80% passing success.
Now a little something for the defenders, who might not be the best at getting points but are certainly great at preventing plays from getting started--or ending.
Aart de Trella and his freakishly long reach once again dominate over the rest of the players, he totals 1.6x the amount of interceptions that second place Cameron Millwall (@stevo) does, with 47 to Millwall's 29. de Trella is also tied for second place in the league in blocks, with 8. First place is a three-way tie between Cameron Millwall, Coin Flip (@midknight), and David Luiz Jr., each with 9 blocks.
--
Overall, the S19 class has put in a strong season in their Academy seasons. Standout players like de Trella and Heung-min have almost certainly improved their draft stock with impressive matchday performances, but the question remains, of course, what are teams looking for in the upcoming S19 draft? Perhaps these performances won't be enough to move them up in the draft, perhaps something will come up that causes favor to fall.
