This has been an extraordinary rookie season for Daryl Dike. Despite coming out of the MLS SuperDraft, an increasingly overlooked and redundant source of talent, he has played at an elite level. The 20-year-old striker was one of the top prospects in that draft after 10 goals and eight assists his final season at Virginia, but slipped to Orlando City with the fifth pick. Given Orlando City and Oscar Pareja’s history developing SuperDraft picks, it was a match made in heaven.
Dike didn’t start the season with many expectations, not even making an appearance until the knockout stages of the MLS is Back Tournament against Montreal.