Max Clark: Up-and-Coming Dynasty Player

Welcome back, everyone. The marathon that is the baseball season is finally turning into a sprint as we enter the final weekend of the regular season.

With that in mind, this is the final installment of the Up-and-Coming Dynasty Player series this year. The final player to be highlighted is Max Clark of the Detroit Tigers.

A former first round draft choice, everyone has expected Clark to succeed on the baseball field. While Clark has done just that, that isn’t always the case for former first round draft picks. So let’s take a quick look at Clark and what has led to his success with the Tigers.

The Stats

Max Clark was an outstanding player in high school at Franklin Community High School, earning the Indiana 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year award and was a member of the 2022 18-and-under World Cup championship team. Clark didn’t have to wait long to hear his name be called during the 2023 draft as the Tigers selected him with the third overall pick. He then made his first contribution to the Tigers as he signed below his slot value, helping the club sign Kevin McGonigle, who was a teammate of Clark’s on the USA team.

Since becoming a professional, Clark has experienced nothing but success. At the Florida State League (Class A) in 2024, he was named an All-Star after slashing .286/.386/.421 with seven homers, 58 RBI and 26 steals in 73 games before being promoted to High-A. This season, Clark was having a solid season at Triple-A before being recalled to the majors by the Tigers and making his MLB debut on July 31, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored with one RBI.

The Tools

• Power

This part of Clark’s game is what will either make him a very good player or a great player. Clark has the ability to hit homers, as he had 14 in the minors last year and had 11 with Toledo this season before joining Detroit. With Detroit, his 162-game pace would be 10 homers. Not horrible, but pretty average. His current average EV is only 87.4 mph, below the MLB average of 88.8 mph, and his Barrel % is only 2.3%. The MLB average is 7.6%.

The good news when looking at those numbers is the fact that Clark is still only 21 years old and doesn’t turn 22 until December 21. As he adds strength and likely changes his swing mechanics a little more, the power should increase. But will it increase to the point where he is a 25-homer player? I don’t see that at this point.

• Hit

Max Clark is in the majors right now because of his hit tool. Clark knows the zone and makes contact when the ball is in the zone. As shown in his spray chart, Clark hits to all fields, though his home runs have all been to his pull side. His zone contact percentage is 90.1% compared to the MLB average of 82.7%. In his 331 minor league games, he had a 17.8% strikeout rate and a 14.6% walk rate. And for the most part, that has carried over to his time with the Tigers, as he has a 19.3% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate.

As with most pitchers who face rookies, Clark has been challenged with a lot of fastballs. The results have been very good, as he has a .301 average and .466 slug against the fastball. And against breaking pitches, he has a slash line of .375/.600. His struggles have come against offspeed pitches, as he has a slash line of .043/.043

• Speed

In addition to his hit tool, Clark has plus speed. He currently ranks in the 84th percentile in sprint speed at 28.7 ft/sec and has topped 30 ft/sec down in the minors. His speed has allowed him to rack up a number of infield hits (helping that batting average and OBP) and be very successful when stealing bases, going 74-for-83 in the minors and 5-for-6 in the majors so far. He had 29 steals in 2024 and 21 this year in the minors, and he should regularly be able to steal 25 or more bags per season with the Tigers.

The Results

Max Clark has had a few ups and downs so far, but overall he has been as advertised. After some early success, he went into a slump from Aug. 9 through Aug. 31 in which he slashed .185/.221/.323 over 20 games. But he has rebounded well. In his first 20 games this month, he had a .353/.458/.500 slash line with seven doubles and one homer out of his 24 hits.

A left-handed batter, Clark has actually had great success against lefties, slashing .382/.443/.600 with one homer and 11 RBI in 55 at-bats. He has actually struggled a bit against righties, as he has a .234/.328/.360 slash line with two homers and 12 RBI in 111 at-bats.

Seeing Clark bounce back from a rough August is a great sign. Instead of letting the struggles get to him, he instead regained his stroke and found success. After having a 22.3% strikeout rate in August, it has dropped to 16.6% this month while his walk rate has increased from 5.8% to 13.1%. Watching a young player make the needed adjustments so quickly and easily should be a sign of good things to come.

Thank You

Thanks for reading. For those who read this every week, I really appreciate the time you take to come here and often ask a question or two.

I will be taking a week off, but fear not, I will return. If you are a regular, then you know that I will be ranking the top dynasty players at each position before going into a Top 400 countdown. So starting in October, look for the top dynasty relievers to kick off the 2026 series.