Seattle Sounders Trade Up In Allocation Order To Nab Sammy Ochoa

It might not be the big-name player everyone was hoping to get, but the Seattle Sounders have added at least one new player before the Sept. 15 MLS roster deadline. The Sounders traded a third-round pick in the 2012 draft to move into the Chicago Fire's No. 4 spot in the Allocation Order and picked Sammy Ochoa, who was here on trial earlier this year and played for Sigi Schmid on the U.S. U-20 team.

"He's a good back-to-goal player and a good finisher around the box," Schmid said in a team release. "Those are qualities that he's had. In all his time in Mexico he was in and out of the lineup because they had so many head coaches so it was tough to establish a rhythm."

Ochoa signed with Estudiantes Tecos of the Mexican Primera in 2006, but only made 26 appearances during five years there, scoring two goals. He scored in his one and only Reserve League appearance with the Sounders back on June 13 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Ochoa is a native of Mexico, but grew up in Southern California and attended Riverside Poly High School. He is 24, stands 6-feet tall and weighs about 165 pounds.

The move is likely of the low-risk, potentially high reward variety. The Sounders could not have found a player of Ochoa's pedigree in the third round of the MLS SuperDraft and if they did not use their allocation spot by Sept. 15, it would have reset at the end of the season anyway.

Adrian Hanauer's talked with reporters about the move.

After the jump, check out a video of Ochoa we found.