Clark quickly learns 'you can't move the sun' while on defense

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Tigers outfield prospect Max Clark noted Sunday that he’d rather deal with the gusty winds of the Grapefruit League than the blinding Florida sun. On Tuesday, the sun got its revenge, giving Clark a hard time on two first-inning fly balls against the backdrop of a clear sky in the Tigers’ visit to the Braves at CoolToday Park.

It made Clark’s comments from Sunday in Lakeland seem prescient.

“I think it's a lot easier to deal with wind than it is sun,” Clark said on Sunday. “You can't move the sun. It is immovable. But for the wind, you can at least position your body and know going into the game what it's going to do.”

Clark -- who's MLB's No. 10 overall prospect -- normally plays in center field, but he started in left Tuesday with Parker Meadows in center. Clark seemed prepared for the sun, from wraparound sunglasses to a healthy amount of eyeblack. Still, the reflection off Clark’s jewelry showed just how powerful the sun proved to be.

“It was 100 percent sun,” Clark said after the Tigers’ 8-1 loss. “But it doesn't matter. You gotta catch the ball. It's in the job description. Just gotta find a way.”

But the heart of the Braves' order gave him a challenge in the opening frame. Matt Olson sent a high fly ball that Clark struggled to locate before it fell between him and Meadows, moving Ronald Acuña Jr. to second base.

“We were fighting,” Clark said. “Parker and I were talking, and he's great out there. He knew it was there, and he was talking about it. Just gotta get underneath it and catch it. I attempted to 'catch the sun,' just didn't catch it. But I've caught 100,000 sun balls in my life. Just gotta figure out how to catch it.”

Tigers starting pitcher Enmanuel De Jesus picked up his teammate by picking off Acuña between second and third base. But Atlanta’s next batter, Austin Riley, sent Clark scrambling to the warning track on a drive to deep left. Clark turned in time but couldn’t find the ball, which bounced on the track and over the wall for a ground-rule double.

“It was the exact same play both times, a little wind pushing it back into the sun,” Clark said. “Both of them we had clear shots, and then at the last second, the wind pushes it back into it and you literally attempt to catch the sun. I'm glad I didn't bail. You want to at least try and make an attempt. But the sun's an immovable object, and you have to find a way to get around and catch it.”

Clark recovered the next inning to make an easy out of Jurickson Profar’s fly ball to left, prompting a hearty round of applause from a crowd of Braves and Tigers fans.

“The first one probably felt like the one that was the easier of the two to get to,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “The second one's a tough one when it's over your head with the wall and the track and the wind. That's OK. That's what spring's for.”

Clark was at the center of another oddity when he seemingly walked on ball three to lead off the fifth inning. However, what looked like a 3-1 count was actually a four-pitch walk; Clark was ruled by plate umpire Chad Fairchild to have ducked out of the way on Joey Wentz’s 1-0 fastball up and in, rather than going around on a swing.

“He actually said I didn't go, and then nobody appealed,” Clark said. “I also thought it was 3-1 and then he's like, 'Hey, that's four.' I was like, 'What do you mean? I literally swung.' And he's like, 'No, no, nobody appealed.' Easy walk, I guess. We'll take it.”