Caps ink Sean Melvin to Homegrown deal

Vancouver appears to finally have found their third-string keeper in Homegrown shot stopper Sean Melvin, inking him to a 2018 MLS deal Wednesday.

The contract is good for this season, with an option for the 2019-2021 campaigns. He will join the club pending the receipt of his International Transfer Certificate. The Victoria native has the honor of being the second Vancouver island product to feature for the Whitecaps.

After loaning Spencer Richey to FC Cincinnati, Vancouver has been in search of an emergency keeper and Melvin fits the bill. Given that he is behind Stefan Marinovic and Brian Rowe, it is unlikely that Melvin will be seeing too many minutes in goal. That being said, he’s a good, young option to have on the bench (or even getting a start) in the Canadian Cup or if disaster strikes for Marinovic.

Melvin is the second Academy prospect to be signed to a Homegrown deal, after midfielder David Norman was inked to a contract this offseason. It rescues Melvin from his purgatorial assignment to Fresno FC, where he has served as the backup to Kyle Reynish. While the fact that he couldn’t beat out a keeper with 8 total MLS appearances (which came about a decade ago) isn’t super promising, Fresno FC is weird and it seems that those in the Whitecaps organization hold him in fairly high esteem (given his 21 appearances for VW2).

While I’m a big fan of Richey, his loan to FC Cinci appears to indicate that his future with the club is rather murky. Melvin is a cheap, promising player to have in case of emergency and, given that he got his first call-up to the Canadian National Team last season, the 23-year-old is someone that could have value for the Caps going forward.