While MLS Academies have gotten better of late, there is no doubt that some franchises around the country leave room for improvement.

With the 2022 season under two weeks away, TDS is using the next week and a half to rank the top academies and prospects in MLS.

MORE: Top Homegrown players at each club

First up, is a ranking of the top academies in the league. There are plenty of caveats worth noting before jumping into the mix. There is a limited amount of public-facing information with regards to the scale of investments teams are making. MLS franchises have been evaluated both looking backwards, highlighting homegrown transfers abroad over the past five years, and first-team players yielded by the youth setup. Along with that, TDS takes into consideration the current youth setup, evaluating factors like reserve teams, current youth squads.

Below is part one of a three-part ranking series of MLS development setups.