Tigers Select Clark No. 2 in Baseball Draft

Banking on the hope that he could be another Darryl Strawberry, the Detroit Tigers picked Christian High’s Tony Clark as the second pick in the first round in Monday’s baseball free agent draft.

Clark was taken by the Tigers after the Atlanta Braves had made Chipper Jones, a shortstop from Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Clark, who batted .500 with 11 home runs in just 44 official at bats this season, was selected by Detroit despite having signed a basketball letter of intent last fall with the University of Arizona.

Clark might have posted gaudier numbers, but he was late getting to baseball because of basketball and he was intentionally walked 13 times.

Though Clark and his father, Arthur Clark, could not be reached for comment, the Tigers said they expect to reach an agreement as early as this weekend.

Also selected in the first round were San Diego State catcher Eric Christopherson, who was picked 19th by the San Francisco Giants, and Arizona pitcher Lance Dickson of Grossmont High, who was taken 23rd by the Chicago Cubs.

The Tigers have told Clark, a 6-8, 205-pound, switch-hitting outfielder, they are willing to let him play basketball at Arizona.

“Any time you allow someone to play basketball, there is a risk,” said Dick Wiencek, Detroit’s director of Western States scouting. “It’s the kind of gamble that was worth taking. If he does make it, he’s an impact player who can drive in runs and put people in the park.”

Wiencek, who also signed Alan Trammell, Jack Morris and Frank Tanana, said Clark has the best power he has seen in 42 years.

“If Tony progresses, we hope to have someone like Darryl Strawberry,” said Wiencek, who along with Tigers’ scout Mike Wallace saw Clark play a number of times in his career. “Almost everybody in the organization, including Bill Lajoie the general manager saw him play. We had a consensus of opinion that this was the right guy for the Tigers.”

But Joe McDonald, Detroit’s director of player procurement, said he realizes there is a great possibility that Clark may not be the right guy.

“Our percentage of first-rounders is pathetic,” McDonald said. “There’s no assurance that a first-round pick is going to make it to the major leagues. They talk about this being a gamble; the whole thing’s a crapshoot.”

McDonald said the plan for Clark, assuming he signs, is to send him to the Tigers’ rookie league team in Bristol, Va.

“We hope to have him for 2 1/2 months this year and 3 1/2 months the following year,” McDonald said.

Arizona baseball coach Jerry Kindall, who was hoping to coach Clark next year, said he was surprised to see Clark picked so high.

“For the Tigers to have him for two months and still draft him there speaks well for his ability,” Kindall said. “I don’t know of anybody in recent years who has been able to combine the two. Basketball is so intense here and the intensity in baseball would be even greater. I think it’s a tremendous tribute to the boy. If he can pull it off, it’ll be amazing.”

But Ed Patterson, Christian High’s baseball coach, said he wouldn’t be surprised at anything Clark accomplished.

“What your taking is a Darryl Strawberry build with a Ted Williams type swing,” Patterson said. “I think he’d make the adjustment (to professional baseball) pretty quick. He’s also got an arm like (Dave) Parker used to have. And he’s more emotionally stable than most 21 or 22 year-olds.”

Asked if Clark was a better hitter from the left or right side, Patterson said: “He hits for more power from the right side, but he is more fluid left-handed.”

Christopherson, who hit .348 with seven homers and 51 RBIs as a junior, said he expects to bypass his senior season and sign with the Giants.

“I’m more than ready to get on with my pro career,” said Christopherson, a third-team All American selection by Baseball America.

After hitting just .256 his sophomore year, Christopherson said he realized his offense must improve if he was going to be a high draft pick.

“Defensively, I knew I had the skills,” said Christopherson, who threw out 39 of 78 runners this season. “I just had to show I could hit.”

Dickson, a junior left-hander, became a first-round selection despite going 7-8 for the Wildcats this season. But the statistics that apparently caught the scouts’ eyes were 141 strikeouts in just 119 2/3 innings and a 3.46 ERA in the Pac-10 Southern Conference, a hitters’ league.

“Fortunately for me, they look at something other than win-loss,” said Dickson, who was drafted out of Grossmont by the Houston Astros. “It was a goal of mine just to be a high pick, but later in the year I started thinking I could be a first-rounder.”

Dickson said he will immediately begin negotiations with the Cubs.

“I want to get it over with, but I want to be fairly compensated,” he said.

San Diego State outfielder Jeff Barry was taken in the fifth round by the Montreal Expos. Barry, a junior, led the Aztecs in RBIs with 55 and had eight home runs.