Just before spring training was set to begin, the Houston Astros learned that one of their minor leaguers wouldn’t be joining them anymore.
Wes Clarke, a 26-year-old first baseman with a strong power-hitting tool, retired from professional baseball on Friday, according to the transactions log on his official MLB.com roster page. The Richmond, Va. and University of South Carolina product called it a career after five seasons in Minor League Baseball.
While Clarke retired from the Astros system, he spent most of his career as a Milwaukee Brewers farmhand. After an impressive power-hitting display as a junior at South Carolina, he signed with the Brewers as a 10th-round pick in the 2021 draft.
All told, Clarke played 450 minor-league games, including 133 in Triple-A over the last two seasons. He totaled 84 home runs, 282 RBIs, and a solid .821 OPS. However, he never got his shot to play at the major league level.
While never a true blue-chipper, Clarke developed some prospect cache as he advanced through the minors. In 2024, following a career-best 26 home runs in a season, MLB Pipeline ranked him the No. 25 prospect in the Milwaukee system.
The Brewers traded Clarke to the Astros last June for cash, and his opportunities in Houston moving forward may not have been particularly appealing. The Astros are set to enter spring training with a logjam at first base at the major league level between the presence of Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker, and that’s not factoring in other prospects who were likely ahead of Clarke on the organizational depth chart.
Clarke was also a consensus All-American as a junior at South Carolina, when he hit 23 home runs and had a 1.091 OPS in 51 games.
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