Sad news hit the baseball world on Saturday as one of the most impactful and successful scouts baseball has ever seen, Roy Clark, passed away at his Atlanta area home last night at the age of 68. Clark's name is attached to many of the best Braves' prospects to come through Atlanta during the last couple decades. Clark is absolutely beloved in the baseball circles for his passion and excellence in scouting and the tributes have been coming in fast.
Clark began his Braves scouting career in 1989 before eventually becoming the director of scouting for the team in 2000, a role he held until 2009. Clark then worked in player personnel roles with the Nationals and the Dodgers from 2010-2014, before returning to the Braves in 2014 as the Senior Advisor to Amateur Scouting. He held that role until 2019, but returned to baseball when the Royals hired him in 2022 to serve as the team's Senior Advisor to Baseball Operations.
One of THE greatest scouts and always fantastic to talk to about the game. You will be missed Roy. https://t.co/yWCSZlgeUX
— Jonathan Mayo (@JonathanMayo) August 23, 2025
Highly respected former Braves scout Roy Clark has sadly passed away
It's impossible to overstate how impactful Clark was on Atlanta's franchise, as his work truly helped the Braves sustain a level of winning that is revered across baseball today. Clark is directly tied to many notable names in Braves history including being responsible for drafting/signing great players like Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, Charlie Morton, Craig Kimbrel, Adam Wainwright, and many more.
Clark was known for not only identifying talent within amateur players, but overall makeup and a winning mentality. It's no coincidence that many of the players he signed went on to be nominated for the prestigious Roberto Clemente award. In fact, Clark's very first pick as scouting director in 2000 was eventual 2020 Clemente Award winner and perhaps future Hall of Famer, Adam Wainwright.
Clark was also an All-American at Ferrum College, a division III school in the Atlanta area before entering the scouting world. Funnily enough, Ferrum is exactly where Clark went as the first scout to get a look at eventual Hall of Fame reliever Billy Wagner. According to accounts at the time, Clark thought his radar gun was broken because he couldn't believe a little guy could throw that hard from the left side.
It was hard for other teams to believe a 5'8 LHP threw as hard as Wagner, but when Roy Clark was mentioned to have known about Wagner's talents others in baseball front offices immediately believed. That was a testament to Clark's reputation, credibility, and influence on the game of baseball. Eventually other front offices caught wind of Wagner's upside so he never made it to the Braves in the 1993 MLB Draft.
Countless other stories around Clark's impact, and humanity will likely pour out over the coming days from so many respected names in baseball. His impact in Atlanta is easy to spot to this day. Our deepest condolences go out to the Clark family as they mourn the passing of a truly legendary man in not only Atlanta Braves history, but baseball history altogether.