Colorado Rapids Re-Sign Two HomeGrowns Ahead Of 2024 Campaign
The Colorado Rapids announce the re-signing of two HomeGrown players ahead of the 2024 season. The Rapids have re-signed defender Sebastian Anderson as well as midfielder Oliver Larraz. Let’s start with Sebastian Anderson as he was more of a feature for the Rapids 1st team in 2023.
The 21 year old rightback has been within the Colorado Rapids system since 2019 where he made his MLS debut, but also played for their USL affiliate at the time (Colorado Springs Switchbacks). Since 2019 he has played in 85 professional games between the Colorado Rapids, Colorado Rapids 2, and Colorado Springs Switchbacks. In those games he has racked up roughly 6,700 minutes with 2 goals and 9 assists. With the retirement of Steven Beitashour, Anderson looks to be the clear backup rightback to Keegan Rosenberry for Chris Armas’s side in 2024. Anderson is hitting a very close point in his career where I feel he needs to start showing his MLS quality. For someone who has been a professional since he was 16 years old, having less than 100 professional games played is a bit concerning to me. I believe that Anderson can be a strong professional right-back within MLS, but he is starting to approach some very key seasons for him in his development.
Now, onto Olivier Larraz. The 22 year old central midfielder had himself a nice 2023 campaign. In 29 games played for the Colorado Rapids 2, Larraz scored 8 goals and had 8 assists. While a great season in MLS Next Pro is nice, he is starting to fall into the Sebastian Anderson camp as well. He is clearly a talented young player, but now it’s time to give him an opportunity to prove himself at the MLS level. Larraz only has 52 minutes played for the Rapids 1st team in his career. But, 2023 seemed like a bit of a breakout season for him. I could very well see Larraz being used as a solid young depth piece for Armas in 2024, especially if he is going to bring a little “energy drink style soccer” to Colorado.
