This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
DETROIT -- The question was bound to come up in the wake of Parker Meadows’ injury: Why not call up Max Clark, the Tigers’ next-best prospect after Kevin McGonigle, and the No. 8 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline?
The answer: While Clark has the potential to be the Tigers’ center fielder of the future, that future isn’t here just yet.
“No, he wasn’t a consideration to come up,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’ve been very consistent with him needing time to continue development. He’s taken everything that we have asked him to do and has started to apply it in Triple-A, and he’s gotten off to a good start himself. And whether that’s on the bases or on defense or certainly the bat, he’s done a really good job of getting himself into Triple-A. …
“We obviously expect him to factor in more and more as these things develop and he continues to develop himself, but Wenceel [Pérez] was the clear option.”
Clark has started off hot at the plate after the Tigers made the decision to have him open the season at Toledo despite just 43 games at Double-A Erie. His .352 average (19-for-54) includes a streak of six consecutive multihit games from April 1-8. His .439 on-base percentage includes twice as many walks (10) as strikeouts (five). Saturday’s 0-for-4 performance against St. Paul marked his first game so far this season in which he did not reach base safely.
Perhaps most surprising, he entered Tuesday with a .537 slugging percentage despite still searching for his first Triple-A home run. He has slashed the gaps and lines for eight doubles (tops in the International League) and a triple, meaning nearly half of his 19 hits have gone for extra bases.
He has been an incredibly disciplined hitter, with just a 17.8 percent swing rate on pitches outside the strike zone and a 93.9 percent contact rate when he swings on pitches in the zone. He has swung and missed at just three of the 105 fastballs he has seen entering Tuesday, according to Statcast.
There’s a lot to like as Clark settles into the daily grind and travel of Triple-A ball. But there’s also just 14 games of sample size. He has faced three teams so far in the Triple-A season, though he has held his own against pitching prospects like the Mets’ Jonah Tong and the Twins’ Connor Prielipp and Kendry Rojas. Just under half of the pitches he has seen have been fastballs (41.5 percent) and sinkers (7.5). A wider range of pitchers and arsenals should give him the looks and repetitions the Tigers want to see before his readiness becomes a longer conversation.
COMPLETE TIGERS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Yes, McGonigle has made the jump from Double-A to the big leagues with no Triple-A time look seamless. But McGonigle also looked far more advanced in Spring Training than Clark, whose time in big league camp provided the pointers for him to work on in Triple-A.
Pérez, for his part, also got off to a hot start in Toledo. Moreover, his big league experience and switch-hitting bat fit into how Hinch sees filling center field for the next several weeks.
Javier Báez has started two games in center since Meadows’ injury, with Matt Vierling starting the other. Báez has picked up where he left off filling in for Meadows last year, looking comfortable in center. By starting Báez in center, Hinch frees up shortstop for McGonigle and third base for Colt Keith, while leaving the DH slot available for rotating Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene and others.
Clark’s time will come. It’s just not here yet.