Sporting KC rounds out SuperDraft with third-round pick of UMass Lowell defender

Sporting Kansas City used the 69th pick of the 2019 MLS SuperDraft to take a 23-year-old center back from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

The club selected Franky Martinez in the third round, then passed on its fourth-round pick. The third and fourth rounds of the SuperDraft were held Monday via conference call.

Martinez played 40 career matches in three seasons (2016-18) at UMass Lowell from 2016-18, helping the River Hawks go 33-14-5. The defender played at Iona College as a freshman in 2014.

At the youth level, he won a U.S. Soccer Development Academy national championship in 2014 with the Players Development Academy (New Jersey) U-18s.

Martinez joins 22-year-old midfielders Kamar Marriott (21st overall pick) and Camden Riley (45th) in Sporting's 2019 SuperDraft class. Marriott, from Florida Gulf Coast University, and Riley (University of the Pacific) were selected Friday.