The Tigers selected prep outfielder Max Clark with the No. 3 pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft.
The Tigers seized on Indiana prep outfielder and left-handed slasher, Max Clark, whose skills and speed proved too much for Detroit to resist with the third-overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.
Clark is a rare talent — a legitimate five-tool phenom, 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, who can hit for average and for power, who has breathtaking speed, and who flaunts a glove and arm that could make him a MLB whiz, if projections are on-target.
The Tigers were staring at an $8.3 million limit at three-overall, and a need to stay within MLB’s strict prescriptions when they required ample cash to offer their subsequent picks Sunday — at 37 and 45, overall.
Clark revealed in a post-draft interview Sunday that he got money equivalent to the No. 4 slot — roughly a $650,000 savings the Tigers can easily pump into those later picks at 37 and 45 overall. The extra cash theoretically helps induce prep players Detroit could choose to sell on a pro contract rather than on their college commitments.
Clark’s timeline to Detroit is likely to be a longer than would have been the case with LSU star outfielder Crews, who went to the Nationals at No. 2, but the Tigers will be patient with a talent who could be transformative.
“We’re in the top class in the state of Indiana, although we’re toward the bottom of school enrollment,” Mark Feyerabend, Franklin’s head coach said during an April conversation with The Detroit News.
