Clarke's Bat Speed Surge: Athletics' Breakout Star?

0:00On April 2nd, the Oakland Athletics are off to a rough one-in-five star after six games this season, but it's way too soon to hit the panic button. Their center-fielder Denzel Clark is batting just two for 14, with a sky-high 47% strike out-rate, and his expected batting. Average sits around 160. Still, those surface numbers hide some serious promise in his swing. Over the last two days against the Atlanta Braves, Clark smashed the hardest hit ball in both games where the A's and Braves combined. He drilled a slider off Chris Sale at 1008.7 mph yesterday, and a change of at 111.8 the day. Before, that's elite exit velocity showing his timing is on point. Digging deeper, Clark's bat speed has exploded from last year. He used to swing fast, 75 mph or better, only 43% of the time, ranking fourth on the team at 74 point. Three average. Now it's 96% of swings, basically every rip is quicker than his old norm.

1:02He's chasing power over perfect contact. That approach mirrors Pittsburgh's O'Neill Cruz, who tops bat speed charts, crushes 20 plus homers a season, despite 30% strikeouts, and keeps a low-launch angle around 9 degrees. Carch's defense and center is already world-class, and his own launch angle was just 4.1 last year. If he adds a touch of lift, he could. Kick out big. Coaches are zeroing in on his swing plane to turn those hard grounders into gap doubles or bombs. Keep an eye on Clark. He might just flip the script for the A's as the weeks roll on. That's your update from MLB News Today, powered by AI, I'm Corey with the story.