Max Clark was leading the Florida State League in runs batted in this season before being promoted to High-A West Michigan on Sunday.
Submitted photo
Max Clark is coming back to the Midwest.
The 2023 Franklin graduate, rated as the top prospect in the Detroit Tigers organization and one of the best in baseball, was promoted from Low-A Lakeland (Florida) on Sunday evening and assigned to the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Tigers’ High-A affiliate just outside of Grand Rapids.
Clark was promoted along with fellow 2023 draft pick Kevin McGonigle.
“The anticipation of Max and Kevin playing in West Michigan started last summer, and the realization has now been fulfilled,” Whitecaps vice president and general manager Jim Jarecki said Sunday. “They had to prove themselves first in Lakeland and they have adjusted outstandingly well.”
In his final game with Lakeland on Sunday, Clark went 3 for 4 with a double, a home run and a stolen base in a win over the Dunedin Blue Jays. He finished his tenure there with a .286 batting average, 11 doubles, three triples and seven homers; his 58 runs batted in lead the Florida State League, and he also ranked second in the circuit in runs scored (55) and steals (26).
The 19-year-old was chosen to represent the American League in the All-Star Futures Game during Major League Baseball’s All-Star break in Texas, playing the entire seven-inning contest in center field and collecting one of the AL’s five hits.
Clark had been on a tear before the Futures Game, going 12 for 26 over his first seven July games in Lakeland to raise his batting average from .266 to .285. When he picked up where he left off after the break, the Tigers decided it was time to bring both Clark and McGonigle (leading the FSL with a .407 on-base percentage) up to the next level.
The two have been attached at the hip since being drafted a year ago.
“He and I, we bounce stuff back and forth off of each other all the time,” Clark said of McGonigle this past winter. “He’s an insane player. … He’s turning into my best friend, my guy.”
Clark is expected to make his Whitecaps debut during this week’s home series against the Lansing Lugnuts. West Michigan then begins a six-game series in Fort Wayne on July 30 — the first in-state action for Clark since high school.
