ATLANTA -- When most thought there was no way Jeff Francoeur or Jason Heyward would still be around for the Braves to pick, Roy Clark found a way to draft both. When most teams saw Austin Riley as a pitcher, Clark viewed him as a future All-Star third baseman.
And oh by the way, he was also responsible for drafting and signing two potential Hall of Famers, Freddie Freeman and Craig Kimbrel.
"He was the Dale Earnhardt of scouting,” Rangers senior advisor of baseball operations Dayton Moore said. “He was loved, respected and feared. The record speaks for itself on who he signed.”
Moore was among the many members of the baseball world who were saddened to learn that Clark, 68, passed away on Friday night. The legendary scout, who filled roles for the Guardians, Braves, Nationals, Dodgers and most recently the Royals, battled heart issues over the past few years.
“He was instrumental in [the Braves’] success,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He was a dear friend foremost. This is a tough day for a lot of us.”
Clark is best known for his accomplishments with the Braves from 1989 to 2008 and 2015 to 2018. His most recent role, serving as a senior advisor in Kansas City’s baseball operations department, reunited him with former Braves co-workers, including Royals vice president Rene Francisco, president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo and scouting director Brian Bridges.
“Roy never wanted to let Bobby Cox, John Schuerholz or anybody down,” Bridges said. “I think that’s what really drove him. But he also really wanted to win and he didn’t care how he made it happen. He was relentless.”
Clark signed a big leaguer each of the 11 seasons (1989-99) he served as either an area scout, supervisor or cross-checker for the Braves. What makes this even more impressive? Each of the first five years, he signed a big leaguer out of a tryout camp. The most successful member of this group was Greg McMichael, who had a 2.79 ERA in 80 appearances for the 1995 World Series champion Braves.
“He had a passion and a love for the Atlanta Braves that was infectious,” Moore said. “Nobody loved the Atlanta Braves as much as he and Paul Snyder did.”
Snyder was the legendary scout who helped stock Bobby Cox’s farm system in the 1980s and 1990s. He molded Clark, who, in turn, was responsible for Moore's transition from a college coach to a Braves baseball operations employee in the mid-1990s.
When Moore became the Royals' general manager in 2006, he was denied his request to bring his big brother (Clark) to Kansas City.
“John Schuerholz, being the wise baseball man he was and is, denied me,” Moore said. “I believe his quote was, 'There’s no way I could let you have Roy Clark.’”
When given his first chance to run a Braves draft in 2000, Clark used his first three picks to take three big leaguers: Adam Wainwright, Scott Thorman and Kelly Johnson. Two years later, he drafted Francoeur, Brian McCann and Charlie Morton within the first three rounds. Then, he took Heyward and Freeman within the first two rounds of the 2007 MLB Draft.
"One thing about Roy was that he was a grinder,” Francisco said. “He taught me that you have to do everything, turn over everything, to find out about a player. That’s the way he was brought up, that’s the way he taught a lot of us. He was determined.”
The Braves’ drafts suffered when Clark left to join the Nationals' front office in 2009. Once the Braves changed leadership and John Coppolella gained control of Atlanta’s baseball operations department in 2015, he made Bridges his scouting director and Clark a special assistant.
Regardless of titles, Clark was still the same mentor he had been to Bridges since the latter had started his rise in the scouting world. The two teamed to take Kolby Allard, Mike Soroka, Riley and A.J. Minter within the first 75 picks of the 2015 MLB Draft.
One year later, the Braves' draft class featured a collection of big league pitchers, including Ian Anderson, Joey Wentz, Kyle Muller and Bryse Wilson.
Bridges and Clark were replaced in Atlanta after the 2018 season, but their fingerprints were all over the 2021 World Series title. Moore added Clark to Kansas City’s front office in 2022 and Bridges joined the Royals in 2024.
“He was pretty much my everything in baseball,” Bridges said. “There were a lot of people, both executives and scouts, that he mentored. If he believed in you and you were in Roy's circle, you were never loved and cared for by a more loyal person.”