Toronto FC announced Wednesday they have acquired defender Ty Harden from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a third round MLS SuperDraft pick in 2011. Per league and team policies financial terms were not available.

"We are excited to have him on board with us," said head coach Preki. "He's a good quality, young defender and there are many things I like about him. He showed a lot of promise in his rookie season with the Galaxy and we hope he can add some toughness to our back line."

Harden, 25, was a second round pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft of the Los Angeles Galaxy. In his rookie season he started all 24 games that he played in, amassing 2,086 minutes. He went on to be named the Galaxy's 2007 Defender of the Year.

In 2008, he stepped away from the game to pursue philanthropic endeavors, moving to Nairobi, Kenya for six weeks to work as a volunteer at Hamomi Children's Centre. Once there, he also helped set up the school's first soccer team and helped arranged games with other schools. He left Hamomi in December of 2008 and joined Colorado when the Rapids and Galaxy agreed to a trade on January 13, 2009.

The central defender saw limited action in 2009 with the Rapids appearing in only seven matches mainly due to the strong depth at his position. He appeared in one game with the Rochester Rhino's of the USL while on loan there for one month in the summer. While with Rochester he played in a U.S. Open Cup match against Columbus and scored a goal. Harden was called back to Colorado during his loan period to play in Colorado's friendly against Club America.

Harden will fly straight to Bradenton, Florida to join his new teammates at pre-season camp.