We are inching ever so closer to Opening Day, and with that comes roster cuts and minor league assignments. And these moves aren’t particularly surprising to anyone. I don’t have much to add about Valencia, and I already wrote a piece about Liranzo's wrist injury a week ago, but it’s safe to say that this has been a very polarizing spring training for Max Clark. I think he would be the first one to admit that, from a performance standpoint, he isn’t particularly happy with how things went.
I think people are going to twist this as something of a disastrous result for Max Clark. The only thing that was disappointing about Max Clark's spring training was that we just didn’t get to see very much of him, and what we saw were some noticeable blunders in the outfield. Clark never had a chance of making this team out of camp. I think that we lump him in with Kevin McGonigle because they were a part of the same draft and they’ve come up together, but they’re in very different situations in their professional careers right now. McGonigle is as advanced as a minor league player can be in terms of their offensive development. Clark has always been more of a project, and I think that he will benefit greatly from spending some time in AAA.
I’ve said for a long time that Clark is ready for the smoke. I fully expect him to bounce back for what was a pretty rough spring at point, but this is a humbling game. I think it’s undeniable that these last few weeks have probably been the most negative attention that Max Clark has ever had since becoming a professional baseball player. I’ve written about it before; it comes with a territory. Every player, even great players, has bad days every now and then. Again, I think it’s where his alignment with Kevin McGonigle hurt his standing. Clark is going through the standard struggles that tons of other young baseball players go through. You guys remember how bad Spencer Torkelson looked in his first few spring trainings? That was legitimately concerning.
I think in some ways, Clark this spring is just a victim of circumstance. You have a legit pro and McGonigle, who is potentially hitting his way onto the big league roster, while you struggle to adjust in the outfield. But even if Clark was putting up monster numbers in spring training, I think the Tigers have a pretty clear plan for what they want his development to look like. He was never going to skip AAA.
Clark had an excellent year in the minors a year ago, and there’s still a lot to like, but I think Detroit wants to see if the power numbers can go up. I know that I keep comparing the two, but McGonigle's circumstances are extraordinary. You cannot compare his development to anybody else in this system because there’s a chance that he’s a legitimate unicorn. Even with a relatively disappointing sprain, there’s nothing that I’ve seen from Max Clark‘s development that is abnormal. These are the growing pains of a young player, and he’ll continue to grow through those pains.