Starts: 18
Minutes: 1,735
Age: 18
Key Stat: 3.48 tackles per 90 minutes, which puts him in the 97%
Jonny Shore was never meant to be a starter this year.
The Academy product made his Senior Team debut when he came off the bench on Opening Day at the age of 17, filling out a midfield that was depleted after the departures of Santiago Rodríguez and James Sands. He made his first start in the Home Opener win over Orlando City, then started 11 of the following 14 games, becoming an integral part of a New York City FC that proved the pundits wrong by making an unlikely run deep into the MLS Cup Playoffs.
New York City FC | Homegrown Debut Seasons*
| Year | Age | Apps | Starts | Mins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonny Shore | 2025 | 17 | 28 | 14 | 1390 |
| Andres Jasson | 2021 | 19 | 20 | 6 | 676 |
| Tayvon Gray | 2021 | 18 | 10 | 3 | 375 |
| Christian McFarlane | 2024 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 368 |
| Máximo Carrizo | 2025 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 83 |
| Seymour Reid | 2025 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 74 |
| Joe Scally | 2020 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 70 |
| James Sands | 2017 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 23 |
| Justin Haak | 2019 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
* MLS league games only
He went on to make 28 regular-season appearances, scoring a goal along the way, and setting a new standard for NYCFC teenage debutants. In a year that saw a record three Homegrown players make their first appearances with the First Team, Shore's 1,390 minutes in league games not only eclipsed the 83 minutes of Máximo Carrizo and 74 minutes of Seymour Reid we saw this year, but were more than double the 676 minutes put up by 19-year-old Andres Jason in 2021.
To go by the appearances put in by Carrizo and Reid, we likely would have seen Shore with the First Team at some point this year. But instead of seeing a few glimpses of playing time here and there, we got to watch Shore log one solid performance after another, and make the most impressive Homegrown debut in team history.
