Tigers Prospect Max Clark Was No Match For the Sun During Inning He'd Like to Forget

The ball kept finding young Tigers player but he could not find the ball.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Max Clark had an adventurous first inning patrolling left field on Tuesday. | Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Max Clark has a bright future ahead of him but the Tigers prospect was outshined by a bigger star during a disastrous inning on Tuesday. Clark, rated as the second-best player in the organization's pipeline, was getting some action out in left field in a spring training tilt against the Braves when things went terribly wrong.

And right off the bat, he had all sorts of problems. The second batter of the game, Matt Olson, skied a routine fly ball in Clark's direction that turned into an adventure as the young outfielder lost it in the sun. Later in the frame, Austin Riley drove a ball back to the warning track that Clark seemed to have a bead on before he pulled away at the last second for another miscue that resulted in a ground-rule double.

Max Clark: two missed catches, slip on throw, crowd applause when he finally makes a clean catch, forgetting the count, and falling down on a check swing

#DNMW #Tigers pic.twitter.com/hbAZ1hIpuK

— Flagrant🦡 (@FlagrantBadgers) February 24, 2026

Immediately after that, Ozzie Albies ripped a shot down the left field line that Clark picked up with intentions of recording an assist to second base. That attempt was derailed by a slip and the throw bounced several times on its way to the target.

If one wants to look on the bright side, perhaps Clark got all of these out of the way before the final score mattered and standings were affected. Plus he learned a valuable lesson about who's going to win when mere mortal meets immovable object.

“I think it's a lot easier to deal with wind than it is sun,” he said after the incidents. “You can't move the sun. It is immovable. But for the wind, you can at least position your body and know going into the game what it's going to do.”

Clark took accountability, saying that he needs to make the play no matter the elements. It's a tough outing to put on tape but at least it happened in February, not during the height of a pennant chase.

---