Jimmy Medranda photo by Tim Sullivan/For Club and Country
The 2020 report cards move along in reverse playing-time order. That means a guy who made just one appearance for the Boys in Gold is up. Jimmy Medranda was an Expansion Draft pick, but didn’t finish the season with Nashville SC.
Other editions: No minutes and gone • No minutes and back • Jimmy Medranda • Brayan Beckeles • Handwalla Bwana • Jack Maher • David Accam • Alan Winn • Matt LaGrassa • Eric Miller • Derrick Jones • Jhonder Cádiz • Taylor Washington • Abu Danladi • Jalil Anibaba • Dominique Badji • Daniel Ríos • Tah Brian Anunga • Alex Muyl • Hany Mukhtar • Aníbal Godoy • Alistair Johnston • Randall Leal • Dax McCarty • Dan Lovitz • Walker Zimmerman • Dave Romney • Joe Willis
The expectations
Medranda was a high-risk, high-reward signing for Nashville SC. He had some familiarity with Mike Jacobs after the latter’s time with Sporting Kansas City, and a skillset that fits well with how Nashville ultimately played. He was also one of the few left-footers capable of playing the wing as Nashville began camp. The risk factor was palpable, though: Medranda had missed plenty of time in his career – including most of the 2018 and 2019 seasons – with fairly significant knee injuries. NSC had to take a bit of a medical leap of faith to take him in the Expansion Draft.
With all that in mind, there were boom-or-bust expectations for Medranda. A dozen games or so – with only a couple starts – seemed like the lower bound for a guy who’d managed 10 appearances the previous season. A fully-healthy Medranda could have become a fixture in the XI all season long.
The statistical
1 appearance • 14 minutes
0 goals, 1 shot (0.03 xG)
0 assists, 1 key pass (0.05 xA)
4/8 passing (50% • 51.1% expected)
7.1% of touches on-field
+0.03 Goals added above replacement winger
| Jimmy Medranda 2020 | |||||
| Dribbling G+ | Fouling G+ | Interrupting G+ | Passing G+ | Receiving G+ | Shooting G+ |
| +0.05 | -0.01 | -0.05 | -0.02 | -0.03 | +0.15 |
The grade
D-minus.
The “bust” side of expectations turned out to be the case. Medranda played the final 14 minutes of the season’s second game against Portland. Even with a few months off, though, he couldn’t get healthy enough to see the field for Nashville. He was in and out of the injury report, but that technical distinction was not really relevant to reality: he was never healthy and fit enough to see the field, even if he was technically off the report.
Before the final few games of the season, Nashville cut its losses with Medranda (fairly significant losses, indeed), dealing him to Seattle Sounders in exchange for Handwalla Bwana. It surprised around these parts when Medranda managed to make three appearances for the Sounders – but that only further underscored how disappointing his injury situation had been in Nashville. The lack of contributions Nashville got from him mean a nearly minimum-possible score.
The future
Obviously, Medranda’s future is not in Nashville. His season didn’t even end in Gold. NSC got a decent return for him (since Bwana’s a Homegrown player, there are roster advantages to the swap for Nashville, whereas the Sounders have more HGs than they need), but the “what-if?” factor will be a big one, given his potential and the fact that he was able to get some minutes for the Sounders.
Medranda is currently a free agent in search of his next MLS stop.
Club and Country 