Sporting KC Sign Midfielder Jacob Bartlett

Players report to preseason for Sporting Kansas City this Saturday. The team is continuing to be built and on Thursday they made another addition.

Sporting KC announced the signing of 19-year-old Homegrown Jacob Bartlett. He signed a three-year contract through the 2027 season, with club held option years for 2028 and 2029. He is the 22nd Homegrown signing in club history, joining fellow Homegrowns Ian James and Jack Kortkamp who were signed earlier in the offseason. His contract length is a mirror of theirs.

Bartlett has come through the SKC Academy, starting off in Sporting’s Center of Excellence and becoming the first player to graduate from that program to a first team contract.

Jacob is listed as a midfielder and lines up primarily as a defensive midfielder but has the ability to play defense as well, mostly at center back as well as some right back. He spent time with Sporting KC II in 2023 and 2024. During the 2024 season he started and played all 90 minutes in seven games, with the team going 4-2-1 over that stretch. He had just one 67-minute appearance for the IIs in 2023.

A big milestone for Bartlett and Sporting KC is that he’s a Kansas City native. He’s the first Homegrown signing born and raised in KC since Cam Duke way back in 2019. He’s been with the club since he was just 11 years old!

According to the press release from the team, Bartlett has spent extensive time training with the first team for the last two seasons, including travelling for preseason. If his name sounds familiar, his older brothers play professionally as well. His oldest brother Alec played for the USL’s Charlotte Independence and his middle brother Lucas is still playing in Major League Soccer having played for D.C. United, St. Louis City and FC Dallas. Even his sister, Grace, plays collegiately for Grand Canyon University. And you know the old trope, it’s the youngest ones that make the best soccer players. Years of playing against their older siblings. No pressure Jacob!

Bartlett spent the last year playing in college at Notre Dame. He played in 16 of the team’s 17 games. Before heading to college, Top Drawer Soccer had him as a Top 50 prospect.

Where Does he Fit In?

Sporting KC have a roster still very much under construction. With the departure of Alan Pulido earlier in the week, the signing of Bartlett gets the team back up to 20 players signed for this season (of a possible 30). The team will definitely continue to add players. The MLS primary transfer window doesn’t open until January 31st and remains open until April 23rd.

As for Bartlett’s fit, he will surely be depth in multiple spots. It’ll be interesting to see if Peter Vermes prefers him in one spot over another. But the ability to play d-mid, right back and center back is a boon. The team has no official right backs on the roster, though Khiry Shelton and Jake Davis have lined up there most recently. There are four other center backs, plus the first-round pick in the 2025 SuperDraft in Jansen Miller from Indiana who remains unsigned. The team also has a lack of defensive midfielders in general.

Former MLS player and current pundit, Bobby Warshaw, made the case on the Soccerwise Podcast that MLS teams should play young players at right back. You tend to spend more in other places and it’s a chance to get youth players on the field at a discounted price (he goes into way more depth, I highly recommend you listen).

Jake Davis broke through as a right back before forcing his way into the midfield. That feels like a reasonable spot for Bartlett and/or James to try to get on the field this season. I’m not sure that’s the best use of either of their skill sets, but they are more likely to get on the field there than at CB right now. Plus, with Bartlett able to play in the midfield, if the team keeps using a double pivot, that’s two d-mid spots where he could get time.

We’ll learn a lot more in the coming weeks where these new players line up. Preseason begins on Sunday in Florida after players report to KC on Saturday for medicals.