Nationals hire Braves exec Clark to handle player development, scouting

Sporting News staff reports Roy Clark is stepping down as scouting director of the Atlanta Braves to become an assistant general manager with the Washington Nationals, MLB.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution report. The Journal-Constitution reports Clark will oversee the Nationals' player development department and all of their scouting -- amateur, professional and international. "It's one of those situations that come along in your career that you just can't pass up," Braves general manager Frank Wren tells the AJ-C. "It's a big job, a lot of responsibility." Clark, 51, has been Atlanta's scouting director the past 11 years, producing a steady stream of premium homegrown talent. He joined the organization in 1989. The move reunites Clark with Nationals president Stan Kasten. The two worked together in Atlanta for 14 years.