CHESTER, Pa. – Coming into the 2014 season, it was unclear how much Philadelphia Union defender Ray Gaddis would play considering Sheanon Williams and Fabinho had been penciled into the starting fullback spots.
As it turned out, nobody in MLS played more than him.
Continuing to establish himself as one of the league’s top lockdown defenders, Gaddis started all 34 games for the Union while becoming just the second field player in franchise history to log over 3,000 minutes. His 3,051 minutes were also the most of any field player in the league.
“If you work hard, good things will come to you,” Gaddis told MLSsoccer.com in a phone interview Wednesday. “I believe that.”
Gaddis initially grabbed a starting spot when Williams tore his quad late in the 2014 preseason. And the 24-year-old defender never let it go, getting shuffled between left back and right back while often being asked to mark the opposing team’s top attacker.
For Gaddis, taking a premier striker out of the game is what gets him more fired up than anything else – and something he’s eager to continue as more and more big-name offensive players come into the league every year.
“There’s no better feeling than seeing a forward frustrated,” he said. “If he gets subbed off, you know you did your thing. … I want to shut them all down. I want to keep them all off the stat sheet. I don’t even want them to get a shot off. No assists, no nothing.”
That type of mentality is certainly what excited interim manager Jim Curtin, who almost immediately sung Gaddis’ praise after taking the helm in June. After a 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls on July 16, Curtin nicknamed him “Gaddis Island” and called him “the best one-on-one defender in the league.”
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About two months later, Gaddis was rewarded with a contract extension, with Curtin telling PhiladelphiaUnion.com at the time that the third-year pro will “be a guy that, if he stays on this pathway, will be a US national team-type player.”
“I’m grateful he thought that highly on me,” Gaddis said. “I know Coach Curtin wants even more. And that’s what I plan on giving him.”
As for getting a long-term deal, the 35th overall pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft called it a “blessing for me and my family.” But even with his future much more secure than it was, Gaddis doesn't play to be complacent as he heads into the 2015 preseason as one of the young pieces the Union will likely look to build around.
“It makes me want to work even harder,” he said, “because I know my best days aren’t here yet.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
