MLS Young Player of the Year Award

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Tampa Bay Mutiny's Steve Ralston was the inaugural winner in 1996

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In 2001, MetroStar's Rodrigo Faria became the first non-American player to win the award

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In 2010, D.C. United's Andy Najar became the first homegrown player to win the award

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In 2020, Los Angeles FC's Diego Rossi became the first player to win it under the under 22 format

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English The MLS Young Player of the Year Award (known as the Rookie of the Year Award from 1996 to 2019) is an annual award given to the top player in Major League Soccer under the age of 22.

The award was initially awarded to a rookie, or a player who no prior professional experience, usually to players that had previously played in MLS youth team academies or played college soccer. This practice is fairly common in other American sports leagues, such as the MLB Rookie of the Year (baseball), NASCAR Rookie of the Year (motorsports), NFL Rookie of the Year Award (American football), the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy (basketball), and the Calder Memorial Trophy (ice hockey).

In 2020, MLS replaced the Rookie of the Year Award with the MLS Young Player of the Year Award, given to the best player in the league aged 22 and under, regardless of prior professional playing experience.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Winners

Rookie of the Year Award (1996–2019)

Season	Player	Position	Team	Draft Pick	Draft Class	College
1996	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Template:Sort	1996 MLS College Draft	Florida International
1997	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Template:Sort	1996 MLS Inaugural Draft	UNLV
1998	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	D.C. United	Template:Sort	Project-40	Virginia
1999	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	Miami Fusion	Template:Sort	1999 MLS College Draft	Duke
2000	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	Chicago Fire	Template:Sort	2000 MLS SuperDraft	UCLA
2001	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	MetroStars	Template:Sort	2001 MLS SuperDraft	Concordia College
2002	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Columbus Crew	Template:Sort	2002 MLS SuperDraft	Virginia
2003	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Chicago Fire	Template:Sort	2003 MLS SuperDraft	Connecticut
2004	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	New England Revolution	Template:Sort	2004 MLS SuperDraft	Furman
2005	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	New England Revolution	Template:Sort	2005 MLS SuperDraft	Wake Forest
2006	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	Chivas USA	Template:Sort	2006 MLS SuperDraft	UCLA
2007	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Toronto FC	Template:Sort	2007 MLS SuperDraft	Maryland
2008	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	LA Galaxy	Template:Sort	2008 MLS SuperDraft	Cal State Northridge
2009	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	LA Galaxy	Template:Sort	2009 MLS SuperDraft	Maryland
2010	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	D.C. United	N/A	Homegrown Player	N/A
2011	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Sporting Kansas City	Template:Sort	2011 MLS SuperDraft	James Madison
2012	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	Chicago Fire	Template:Sort	2012 MLS SuperDraft	Louisville
2013	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Colorado Rapids	Template:Sort	2013 MLS SuperDraft	Notre Dame
2014	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	FC Dallas	Template:Sort	2014 MLS SuperDraft	Colorado School of Mines
2015	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Orlando City SC	Template:Sort	2015 MLS SuperDraft	Connecticut
2016	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Seattle Sounders FC	Template:Sort	Homegrown Player	Stanford
2017	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Atlanta United FC	Template:Sort	2017 MLS SuperDraft	Providence College
2018	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Real Salt Lake	Template:Sort	Homegrown Player	Stanford
2019	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Colorado Rapids	Template:Sort	2019 MLS SuperDraft	Denver

Young Player of the Year Award (2020–present)

Season	Player	Position	Team	Age
2020	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward	Los Angeles FC	22
2021	Template:Flagicon Ricardo Pepi	Forward	FC Dallas	18
2022	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Forward		21
2023	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Atlanta United FC	22
2024	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Midfielder	Real Salt Lake	21
2025	Template:Flagicon Template:Sortname	Defender	Orlando City SC	21

Wins by playing position

Position	Number of winners
Defender	9
Forward	9
Midfielder	10
Goalkeeper	0

Wins by nationality

Nationality	Number of winners
Template:USA	20
Template:CAN	2
Template:BRA	2
Template:GER	1
Template:HND	1
Template:JAM	1
Template:URU	1
Template:ARG	1

Wins by team

Team	Number of winners
Chicago Fire	3
FC Dallas	3
Colorado Rapids	2
D.C. United	2
Los Angeles Galaxy	2
New England Revolution	2
Tampa Bay Mutiny	2
Atlanta United FC	2
Real Salt Lake	2
Orlando City SC	2
Chivas USA	1
Columbus Crew	1
MetroStars	1
Miami Fusion	1
Seattle Sounders FC	1
Sporting Kansas City	1
Toronto FC	1
Los Angeles FC	1