Scott Harris may need to eat his words on Max Clark if Tigers place Javy Baez on IL

The Detroit Tigers may be in a rough spot after Tuesday night as Javier Báez went down with a serious-looking leg injury. He had to be carted off the field, will undergo an MRI, and it seems very likely that he will have to go on the IL.

If he does, president of baseball operations Scott Harris may have to eat his words on top outfield prospect Max Clark after recently saying that he is not quite ready for the big leagues. Clark may not have any big league experience, but he is probably Detroit's best option at this point.

The case for bold Max Clark promotion over veteran Corey Julks

The other main option would probably be Corey Julks. While Julks has big league experience, he hasn't done much in the majors. He's a career .234/.288/.337 hitter with nine home runs and 48 runs batted in across three big league seasons. He's got some speed as he has 20 career stolen bases, but it's clear that Clark has a much higher ceiling.

The 21-year-old Clark is hitting .305/.382/.453 with one homer and 11 runs batted in down in Triple-A. He has struck out 14 times and drawn 13 walks, which is a great ratio. His speed is incredibly impressive as he's already got eight stolen bases and has yet to be thrown out.

With how good Kevin McGonigle has been for the Tigers, there has to be some temptation to call up Clark, the No. 2 prospect in the organization after McGonigle, to see if he can have similar success.

There's always a fear with prospects that they get rushed up too early and get humbled at the big league level, but Clark seems to have the skills that will make him a solid big leaguer even if he isn't tearing the cover off the ball right away.

He can play all three outfield positions and would likely be an above-average center fielder for the Tigers given his strong defense. That's all he needs to do early on, as anything he does at the plate will be viewed as a bonus.

The Tigers have played middling baseball thus far. Maybe some more young blood is just what they need to really get the season leaning in the right direction.

If the Tigers do lose Báez for a while after his leg injury, it will almost be impossible to replace him with Detroit's only real utility option (Trei Cruz) on Toledo's IL. But calling up Clark could give the team a nice boost and at the very least give Clark a taste of the big leagues.

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