Howie Clark

Howard Roddy Clark ... Single ... Played Little League baseball for Santana National (CA) ... Graduated from Huntington Beach High School in California, where he earned three baseball letters and graduated with honors ... Named to all-county squad his senior season ... Former Orioles minor league SS Craig Daedelow and former Orioles RHP Jim Dedrick also attended Huntington Beach HS ... Howie's grandfather played football for the U.S. Naval Academy.

2004

Clark spent part of the season in a utility role, but he spent the rest at Triple-A. He has a Major League bat in a reserve role, but he doesn't play any position well enough to stick as a defensive replacement.

2003

Played in 38 games for the Blue Jays, batting .357 with four extra base hits and seven RBI ... Batted .362 vs. right-handed pitching, had only one at bat vs. LHP (0-1) ... Had contract purchased by the Blue Jays on May 26 from Syracuse ... Stayed with the ML team until being optioned to Syracuse on June 26 ... During first stint batted .390 in 16 games (16-41) ... Had a career high four hits on June 10 vs. PIT ... Was recalled to the Blue Jays on July 1 ... Played in 12 games and batted .292 (7-24) before being optioned on July 28 ... Was recalled on Sept. 2 ... Played in 10 games in September ... Was 2-6 with two RBI in the final month of the season ... Made 19 starts, 10 at third base, three at second base, two in left field, one in right and three as the designated hitter ... Off the bench was 2-6 with one RBI.

In the Minors: Started the season on the DL and was activated on April 21 (right shoulder), had off-season surgery in January ... Played 66 games with the SkyChiefs and batted .258 with four home runs and 30 RBI ... Best month was August, batting .301 with 14 RBI ... Hit two home runs and batted .288 vs. left-handed pitching ... Hit .246 vs. right-handed pitching with two home runs ... Had four RBI in game one of a DH on May 7 at Charlotte ... From Aug. 5-7 in four games drove in eight runs ... Played most games at second base (53) ... Also saw action in left field (7), first base (5), third base (1) and two as the DH ... In the two slot in the order batted .307 (153 AB).

Career Notes: Is a career 2-7 as a pinch-hitter.

2002

Began the season at Rochester (AAA) of the International League and had his contract purchased from the Red Wings on July 15... Made his big league debut the next day against Seattle, batting leadoff and doubled off Joel Piniero in his ML first at-bat... Hit safely in his first six games (9-14) overall... Reached base safely in each of his first nine games and was batting .378 on July 26... Went 0-12 over his next games before going 2-4 in his final game on August 4 at Toronto... Was optioned to Rochester on August 7 when Jeff Conine was activated from the disabled list... Had six multi-hit games, including a sea-son- high three hits on July 20 vs. Chicago... Was 0-1 as a pinch-hitter... Batted .302 in the Major League, third among American League rookies with at least 50 at-bats, behind Detroitbs Omar Infante (.333) and Torontobs Josh Phelps (.309)... Also finished tied for fourth among AL rookies with a .362 on-base percentage... At the time of his recall in July, was leading the International League in hits (117) and was sixth in batting (.330)... Had 19 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 40 RBI and 51 runs scored in 89 games... Finished the season 10th in the IL with a .309 batting average... Struck out just 28 times in 418 at-bats (once every 14.9 at-bats)... Had a 13-game hitting streak, May 9-22, in which he batted .426 (23-54)... Reached base via hit or walk in 25 consecutive games, April 25-May 22.

2001

Played outfield for Yucatan of Mexican League, finishing eighth in the league with a .333 batting average... Led the Mexican League with 42 doubles and finished fourth in hits (164), fifth in total bases (235) and tied for third in triples (7)... Was named to the post-season All-Star squad... Hit five homers and drove in 64 runs... Played in all 121 of Yucatanbs games... Played 112 games in the outfield, three at first base and six at second base... Had RBI in seven consecutive games with Yucatan, April 8-15... Drove in 10 runs and batted .548 (17-31) during that stretch... Hit .433 (29-67) with seven doubles and 19 RBI in 16 games, April 8-27... Hit safely in 21 of 22 games, June 29-July 24, batting .466 with 10 doubles, 17 RBI and 22 runs scored in that span... Had four four-hit games in that stretch as well... Signed with Chico of the independent Western League in late August and hit .533 in four games (8-15).