Advertisement

Detroit Tigers select high school outfielder Max Clark with No. 3 pick in 2023 MLB draft

The Detroit Tigers selected Franklin Community High School (Franklin, Indiana) outfielder Max Clark with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Before Clark, the Pittsburgh Pirates added LSU right-hander Paul Skenes with the first pick and the Washington Nationals followed by taking LSU outfielder Dylan Crews with the second pick.

The Tigers passed on Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW? Detroit Tigers' newest top 5 MLB draft pick is about to join an exclusive club

LOOKING BACK: Meet the best pick at each of the Detroit Tigers' 21 MLB draft slots this year

Franklin Max Clark poses for a photo Thursday, March 24, 2022, at Powerhouse Athletics in Franklin.
Franklin Max Clark poses for a photo Thursday, March 24, 2022, at Powerhouse Athletics in Franklin.

Clark, 18, hit .646 with six home runs, 30 walks and eight strikeouts in 29 games as a senior with Franklin Community High School. He was named the Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year.

He was named Indiana Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year as a sophomore and junior in high school, as well, when he served as an outfielder and a pitcher. Clark also played football as a wide receiver.

The Tigers, under new president of baseball operations Scott Harris, wanted to select a college position player with the No. 3 overall pick and were believed to be most interested in Crews and Langford at the top of the draft.

The No. 3 overall pick, used on Clark, came with an MLB-determined bonus slot value of $8,341,700.

Clark is represented by Wasserman agent Sam Samardzija.

The Tigers have $15,747,200 to spend on their 21 draft picks this year, the second-most in baseball. Teams are allowed to exceed slot value for picks by 5% before paying a 75% fine on the overage. No MLB team has exceeded the 5% limit since the slots were created.

JEFF SEIDEL: A stud bat in MLB draft. Big trades. Calling up kids. Tigers' Scott Harris has work to do.

The Tigers have selected in the top five in five of the past six drafts.

Those five picks were used to select Clark (2023), high school right-hander Jackson Jobe (2021), college first baseman Spencer Torkelson (2020), high school outfielder Riley Greene (2019) and college right-hander Casey Mize (2018).

The Tigers also picked Texas Tech second baseman Jace Jung with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers select Max Clark with No. 3 pick in 2023 MLB draft