These two young Kansas City Current players are turning some heads this preseason

Hearing “amazing” and “one of the best on the team” being used to describe a couple of players on the Kansas City Current, you might think those words are referring to Debinha or Lo LaBonta.

But veteran Kansas City forward Kristen Hamilton wasn’t talking about either of those Current stars. She was referring to recent U-18 entry signing Claire Hutton.

Welcome to the KC Current preseason, where the youngsters are turning heads.

When Vlatko Andonovski was introduced as the club’s new sporting director and head coach this offseason, one of the things he talked about was development of a pro-player pathway. That vision might one day involve a full-blown academy setup, but for now, the Current’s finding other ways to bring in new talent.

That’s how Hutton and fellow young newcomer Alex Pfeiffer entered the picture. Both were added to the Current’s roster via the National Women’s Soccer League’s U-18 entry mechanism.

Hutton, who hails from upstate New York, is turning heads at KC’s preseason camp in Irvine, California.

“It’s hard to tell when she’s on the field that she’s as young as she is,” Andonovski said. “Obviously, it’s still just training. But we’re very happy with her progress. The next step is (preseason) games against NWSL opponents, and hopefully from there the regular-season games.”

Longtime veteran Desi Scott complimented Hutton’s performance.

“We know Claire a little bit from last year,” Scott said. “She is coming in confident (and) playing well. It’s nice to be able to bounce things off her, teach her things that I’ve learned throughout the years.”

Hutton, 18, trained with the Current for a brief period last summer before being signed to a pro deal. But the environment of a mid-season practice versus an intense preseason program is different.

Hutton said she’s loving it so far.

“Being around people who are like-minded and every day want to go out there, push each other to be the best, is one of the reasons why I chose to be here instead of taking the normal route of college,” Hutton said.

The speed of play, however, has been an eye-opener.

“Everything has to be so sharp, one or two touches,” Hutton said. “I’ve been reminded a few times with tackles given to me, the times I’ve given the ball away that it needs to be faster. But every day, it gets easier, and that’s probably the biggest thing.”

Pfeiffer, a 16-year-old from. St. Louis, last year spent time with the U-17 U.S. Youth National Team in Mexico. She and the rest of the U-17 squad played for the CONCACAF U-17 championship and earned qualification to the U-17 World Cup.

Pfeiffer scored six goals and provided three assists along the way.

“I think she went to (the tournament) and represented the organization well,” said Andonovski, the former U.S. Women’s National Team coach.

With no women’s professional soccer team in St. Louis, the Current didn’t have to travel far to scout Pfieffer. And for part, Pfeiffer liked what she saw in Kansas City.

“Being a young player, that’s the biggest thing for me,” she said. “It’s, ‘How I can get better every single day?’ And this is the right environment for me.”

Hutton and Pfeiffer will each need to earn a shot with the first team. And that’s part of the player development puzzle that Andonovski is piecing together.

“It’s actually a very fine line between treating her as a young player and how good she can be,” Andonovksi said.

“It can also be counterproductive, because she has to understand that she’s young. But also, when she’s on the field, there’s no ‘young’ and ‘old’ — only ‘good’ and ‘bad.’

“So we have to be very careful of the times we treat her as a young player and the times we treat her as a contender to be a starter on this team.”