Max Clark doesn’t really care what you think about his chains.
Video of the Tigers prospect dropping two routine fly balls went viral last week, with a lot of people focused on his look. Clark had four diamond chains around his neck, full sleeve tattoos covering both arms, and far too much eye black. Braves TV analyst C.J. Nitkowski said, “There's no chance that there was a kid who had never been to the big leagues coming into camp like that during my old-man heyday. No chance.”
It’s fair to say none of that criticism bothers the 21-year-old. His full response to all the noise is below.
I don't care what they have to say, to be completely honest with you. People don't know me. There's a lot of people out there that will do anything for some monetary clicks. I've been dealing with this since I was 15. It's a part of this game. It's a part of this process. And it's only going to get worse, obviously. People love to talk about things that they don't have a clue about. They don't know how I was raised. My mom was a special ed teacher. My dad drove semis. I grew up in a two-story house, loving God and serving Him. And just for people to go out there and say stuff like that – I'm sleeping just fine at night, I can promise you that. One day, they're going to have to look in the mirror and answer that question themselves. I get to wake up each and every day and play a child's game for money, surrounded by three probable Hall of Famers, six All-Stars, 15 Gold Gloves and a manager who's won the World Series, who also played. They support me, they love me, and we work each and every day for that.
That's the big picture. I don't care if people criticize me for dropping two fly balls. No kidding, I should have caught the fly balls. It doesn't matter if the sun was there. It doesn't matter if it was my first time playing left field. It doesn't matter. I should have caught the ball. But it had nothing to do with the fly ball, right? They're just looking for an image to paint. People talk about humility and humbleness – that's not even a question. Each and every one of these guys know what I'm going to go out and do for them each and every day. De Jesus, I got him two bottles of the best rum you can find because I felt like [expletive] for messing up his incredible start. I'm aware of it, and that's the thing that people don't realize, that's the thing that people don't understand. They're not inside this clubhouse, and there's a reason for that. Even the ex-big leaguers of the orgs, like Jeff Frye, there's a reason that he's doing what he's doing, and there's a reason that we're doing what we're doing. There's a reason that we're all still in baseball.
There's a reason that A.J. [Hinch] is still in baseball. It's because they carry a heavy responsibility to make us mature men, which we are. It's a strong clubhouse. Parker and I were messing around, and you snapped a picture of it – that should tell a story in itself. He's the man. Everybody had my back. Everybody has lost a sun ball. I read something from Austin Jackson the other day on it. It was like, 'As long as he's out there trying to figure out how to catch in the sun, then that's all that matters.' And that's right. The same day I texted George [Lombard] that I wanted extra work in left field. I wanted extra work to figure it out. Those things come. You learn them. They just come with the territory. Obviously, I'm going to get more flack just because of the way I dress, but at the end of the day, I know I'm a baller, I know I'm a gamer, and that's what everybody else here knows. That's why I was drafted where I was.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch backed his young star. “He's incredible to be around every day. I love his enthusiasm. I love the way he approaches the game. I love the work that he puts in. I love that he has the confidence to be himself,” Hinch said. “That's a staple of what's expected when you come into our clubhouse under any team that I'm on. Our guys love him. I think people are incredibly unfair when they can criticize with no merit.”
Detroit selected Clark with the third pick in the 2023 MLB draft, and he has steadily climbed his way through the organization. He finished 2025 playing the final 43 games at Double A at 20 years old. At two levels combined last season, he slashed .271/.303/.432 with 14 home runs, 67 RBIs, 19 stolen bases and a wRC+ of 148.
He’s a consensus top prospect and could debut at some point in 2026. Get ready to see his distinct look in the big leagues.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tigers’ Max Clark Fires Back at People Mad About All the Chains He Wears.
