Tigers top prospect Max Clark has confident response to breaking mini-slump

Few prospects hit back at crticism as loudly and as virally as Tigers' No. 2 Max Clark. Last year, he brought a new level of delicious pettiness to the field when he wore customized "receipt cleats" covered in posts calling him "overrated" and the like. This year, he's been a little more subtle about responding to his critics, but he's not exactly taking things lying down either.

From April 12-15, he went hitless with three strikeouts through 12 at-bats, dropping his line to .250/.404/.389. Although it takes a specific kind of person to call a prospect "overrated" or "washed" after just three bad games, and right at the beginning of the High-A season at that. However, Clark faces a specific kind of pressure as the Tigers' first pick in 2023 and his soon-to-be status as their No. 1 prospect once again, when Jackson Jobe has accumulated enough major league innings to graduate from prospect status.

On Wednesday, after a two-hit, three-walk, two-RBI night, he posted a rather dramatic black-and-white photo of himself with the caption: "new opportunity every day."

It's not as strong a statement as the receipt cleats, but it gets the same message across: Clark knows there's pressure and a lot of critics, and he's not afraid to tell them he sees them.

Tigers' No. 2 prospect Max Clark hits back at critics (again) after nice night in High-A on Wednesday

Clark was promoted to High-A in late July of last year and wrapped up with a .264 average and .765 OPS through 34 games. He has 10 games under his belt so far, and after Wednesday night, he's batting .282 with a .863 OPS, one homer, and 15 RBI.

Maybe Tigers fans are too quick to criticize because we've been burned by first-round draft picks a lot recently. Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize are, thankfully, showing drastic signs of improvement this season, but for most of last year, it seemed like they weren't going to be long for the club. Matt Manning and Alex Faedo, drafted back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, are either stuck in Triple-A for the foreseeable or aren't even with the organization anymore.

But Clark is still very young and still in the earliest stages of the minors. Maybe we should give the guy a little more time before we start nitpicking at his every move, especially if it's looking like he can turn things around in an instant and make fans eat their words.

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