Detroit Tigers Top Prospect Looks Ready for Next Level After Blazing Start

The Detroit Tigers have a special prospect coming up the pipeline, and he's off to a tremendous start this season.

Whitecaps center fielder Max Clark walks toward the dugout on Friday, April, 4, at LMCU Ballpark. | Adam Vander Kooy/Holland Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers have built up their farm system over the years to the point where it has become the best set of prospects in all of baseball.

With a wide-ranging group that features guys who are already knocking on the door of Major League Baseball to players who are still a couple of seasons away, the talent from top to bottom throughout the organization has gotten to a point where it is truly second to none.

The team's top prospect at the moment is technically right-handed pitcher Jackson Jobe. Off to a strong start in the Major Leagues this season, Jobe appears to be on the cusp of graduating from the status of prospect as he figures out more and more with each start how to be a starting pitcher at this level.

This would leave 20-year-old Max Clark as the highest-rated prospect in the whole organization. While Clark is entering just his second full season as a professional baseball player, he is beginning to show why he was the No. 3 overall selection in the 2023 MLB draft.

In 107 games last season between Low-A Lakeland and High-A West Michigan, Clark slashed an impressive .279/.372/.421 with nine home runs and 75 RBI.

However, Clark has taken things to another level in High-A this season.

Through the first five games for West Michigan, Clark is batting .368/.556/.579 with a home run, nine RBI and eight walks.

Max Clark's first 5 games of 2025 for the High-A @wmwhitecaps:
7 H
2 XBH
9 RBI
8 BB
.368 AVG
1.135 OPS@tigers | @RoadtoDetroit pic.twitter.com/i7u0VyfHx3

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 10, 2025

Currently, both Clark and his current West Michigan teammate -- Detroit's No. 3 prospect Kevin McGonigle -- are not expected to arrive to the Show until 2027. However, they could potentially debut next year if they keep accelerating through the minors.

If Clark keeps it up, he's not going to be in West Michigan for long and will inevitably be promoted to Double-A Erie sooner rather than later.

Tigers fans were already supremely excited about Clark, and for good reason.

At the rate things are going, they might not have to wait much longer to see Clark advance to the next level in his minor-league progression.