Braves lose scouting director to Nationals

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Braves have lost scouting director Roy Clark, who accepted a job with the Washington Nationals after 20 years in the Braves organization.

After interviewing Monday in Washington, Clark informed the Braves Tuesday that he had accepted a post as Nationals assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel.

Clark, 51, will have wide-ranging duties including oversight of player development and all scouting -- amateur, professional, and international.

The Braves have three different directors in charge of player development, international scouting and amateur scouting and two other team officials run professional scouting.

"It's one of those situations that come along in your career that you just can't pass up," Braves general manager Frank Wren said of Clark's departure. "It's a big job, a lot of responsibility."

Clark has served as Braves scouting director for 11 years and ran the team's June draft as his primary duty.

Recent Braves drafts yielded elite talent including four-time All-Star catcher Brian McCann, National League Rookie of the Year candidate Tommy Hanson and Baseball America minor league player of the year Jason Heyward, the 14th selection of the 2007 June draft.

"It's very difficult to let go of 20 years, but they're putting together a pretty good package up there. It's very exciting," Clark said Monday night after returning to his Marietta home from Washington.

"I don't know if you can teach old dogs new tricks, but with the ownership group they have, the plan they have, with [Nationals president] Stan [Kasten] and [general manager Mike] Rizzo, I have a feeling that place might be special."

Clark was hired as an area scout in 1989 by venerable former Braves official Paul Snyder and also served as a scouting supervisor before moving into the scouting director role.

He and his wife Debbie have three children, including two in college.

Wren said he had candidates in mind to possibly replace Clark, and that the person could come from within or outside the organization.

"Roy's done a good job for us and been here a long time," Wren said. "We feel like we have some really good people to consider [to replace him]."

Kasten was president of the Braves for much of Clark's tenure with the club and the Nationals tried to hire away Clark in 2006. He turned down an assistant GM job then, but the expanded position was too enticing for Clark to pass up.

The Nationals asked the Braves last week for permission to interview him and Wren and Clark discussed the situation during the weekend.

Wren, like many in his position, keeps a list of replacement candidates for various jobs.

"You're always looking at different possibilities, people that impress you in different roles," he said, "just for situations like this."