With the No. 3 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, the Tigers selected Franklin (Ind.) Community High School outfielder Max Clark.
Clark entered this year’s Draft as one of the top high school prospects in the country and the best prep prospect to come from Indiana. The outfielder has a powerful left-handed swing that produces line drives from gap to gap, and MLB Pipeline projects he could become a 20-plus home run threat in the Majors.
Clark has shown his raw power potential with a wooden bat, launching a home run into the second level at Tropicana Field during the 2022 Perfect Game showcase and sending one 12 rows deep at Dodger Stadium.
When not in center field for Franklin Community High School, Clark was on the mound, where he unleashed a fastball that touched 97 mph on the radar gun, indicating the type of outfield arm he’d bring to the professional ranks.
Clark’s excellent speed makes him a threat on the base paths, and that speed plus his ability to read balls off the bat and run efficient routes on fly balls make center field a position at which he could stick in the Majors. All told, Clark has four of the five tools – hitting, fielding, throwing and running – that are rated as plus tools and scouts can see the fifth (power) developing.
In his senior season of high school, Clark hit .646 with an incredible .808 on-base percentage thanks in large part to his 52 walks in 28 games. He was named Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year each year from 2021-23.
In 2022, Clark helped Team USA take home gold at the U-18 Baseball World Cup by hitting .280 with a clutch homer against Canada and then three hits in the gold medal game against Chinese Taipei.
Clark’s makeup off the field is also strong – his high school GPA was 4.0 and he regularly contributed in his community, particularly in sports by coaching 10-year-old Little League players.