Tigers Insider Offers Surprising Prediction on Top Prospect Max Clark This Year
In this story:
The Detroit Tigers have one of the more exciting farm systems in Major League Baseball, highlighted by some serious talent at the top of it, which is nearing big league contributions sooner rather than later.
Understandably, most of the attention in this category has been heaped on Kevin McGonigle as of late, but prior to McGonigle's massive breakout in 2025, it was center fielder Max Clark who was the higher rated youngster.
If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google.
While McGonigle may have a real chance at cracking the Opening Day roster or at least seeing early time, Clark has been a bit of an afterthought as it relates to the 2026 season specifically. One Tigers insider though has let fans know that they might be seeing Clark sooner than they think.
In a recent episode of the Tiger Territory podcast, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic issued a bold prediction that Clark very well may be helping out Detroit in a big way throughout this upcoming season.
Tigers May Need Clark to Play Big Role This Season
"There's a non-zero chance that we see a lot of Max Clark if he ends up being the guy best suited to lock down center field this year."@CodyStavenhagen sees the path to the Tigers' prospect getting a legit shot. pic.twitter.com/hSDO8lUOvj
— Tiger Territory (@TigerTerritory_) January 28, 2026
"Especially with the rise of McGonigle, there have been more questions in Max Clark's game," Stavenhagen said. "What if the bat is a grade below expected, what if the field is a grade below expected? The bar to be a plus center fielder in the Major Leagues is just so high.
"This guy was a high draft pick for a reason and there's still a ton of potential...if [Parker] Meadows doesn't hit, there's a non-zero chance that we see a lot of Max Clark if he ends up being the guy best suited to lock down center field this year."
Meadows of course enters the season as the starting center fielder, but even when he was healthy in 2025, the bat was absolutely brutal for the defensive specialist. Clark is not going to be handed the job out of the gate, but Meadows struggling again at the plate would greatly limit the ceiling for the offense.
Stavenhagen went on to mention that there are other options including Wenceel Pérez and Matt Vierling, however obviously no one with the ceiling of Clark for Detroit.
When Tigers Fans Can Expect to Realistically See Clark
The reality here is that the answer to this question largely depends on the performance of Meadows as much as it does the performance of Clark. After slashing an admirable .244/.310/.433 in 82 games in 2024 to account for a very impressive 2.2 bWAR, that slash line for Meadows dropped to an unsightly .215/.291/.330 over a 58-game sample size.
In the postseason, things got even worse for the 26-year-old and brought into doubt his future with the team. Should Clark come into spring training tearing the cover off the ball and Meadows struggles to begin the year, the young prospect playing a major role would not be shocking.
Clark still has a lot of work to do in order to prove he's even close to ready, but he might just be knocking on the door sooner than most expect.
Recommended Articles
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.