Together Every Step of the Way: James and Miles Clark prepare for Baseball's next chapter

Brothers, no matter what, they're always stuck together.

Since James and Miles Clark were kids, they've done everything together. Attend family gatherings, go to school with one another, play video games, and of course, compete in sports.

The two twin brothers just finished up their senior season at St. John Bosco, winning back-to-back CIF Division 1 baseball titles, and are about to embark on a new adventure. Going to college.

"It's gone by really fast, just a great experience. From freshman year to senior year," Miles said of his twin brother James. "Growing, developing as a person and as a player, my brother, that's my best friend, he knows me more than I know myself, it's been great, going along the journey."

"It's been great, growing up with him; he's always been there," James said of playing alongside his brother through all these years. 
"So watching both of our journeys have an upward trajectory, and then also committing to the same school, and going on to the next level is pretty special."

As the two are preparing for college, they're also dealing with the reality that they might've just played their last baseball game together as teammates, as MLB mock drafts have James being drafted between the first and second round this weekend.

James is considered one of the top prep shortstops in Southern California. Standing at six-foot-1 and weighing 190 pounds, he grew up idolizing Francisco Lindor, whom James tries to emulate in his own play style as a left-handed hitter, with a high baseball IQ, and of course, always playing with a smile on his face.

In his senior year, James showed why he's a good, natural baseball player who is smooth with the glove at shortstop, while keeping the bases moving as a hitter.

This past year, James started to find the power in his bat by hitting 5 home runs for the Braves. The power started to show for him just before the season started when he attended an Area Codes game at Dodger Stadium, and was the story of the afternoon, by hitting for the cycle.

"He's one of the smartest guys I've ever coached," St. John Bosco head coach Andy Rojo said of James Clark. "He has a great internal clock, rhythm of the game, pretty good idea. I think the one thing I noticed over the two years is he doesn't let the game get too big."

James' high school career concluded with him hitting as a .364 hitter, with 41 RBIs, 28 RBIs, and a .984 OPS.

"I'd say the best moments are seeing him do better than me," Miles said of his brother when asked about his favorite moments while playing with him. "Seeing him have the big moment of the game, the big play, seeing him grow as a person, doing his thing."

James made a major improvement this season by working on his patience at the plate. A year after he struck out 27 times, he cut the punchouts down to just 10, while having 17 walks.

Miles, who is also 6-foot-1 and weighs 195 pounds, grew up as a fan of Yasiel Puig and Mookie Betts, but has really started to enjoy watching Ronald Acuña Jr.

"Always big, strong outfielders, really explosive guys, really entertaining," Miles said.

Miles' high school career ended with a .233 average, 30 RBI, 4 home runs, 13 extra-base hits, and a .354 slugging percentage.

When he was out in the grass, almost no ball would get past him out in center field, as he has the speed to track down any ball in his area.

As Bosco is the reigning back-to-back champions, Miles had a moment during the 2025 CIF Division 1 finals game that he would never forget by having a walkoff hit to seal Bosco the title against Rancho Santa Margarita.

"James is a little more offensive, from a batting average standpoint," Rojo said. "Miles can really run balls down defensively."

When James and Miles aren't competing against other teams, they're usually competing against each other in video games, or even pick up basketball, or playing football at the park.

"Whatever we do, I feel like I'm a better athlete than him. So, whether it be basketball, ping pong, or something, I definitely would win," James jokingly said about his brother. When asked about video games, James admitted his brother had his number at that. "I don't know, he just always had a natural feel) for video games."

The Clark brothers are the sons of successful lawyers in Southern California and the younger brothers of a sister who works as a pilot.

With a standard set so high since they were little kids, the boys have gone above and beyond it as they finished high school with all-honors, GPA's above 4.0, and are currently learning how to speak Mandarin.

"It's been super important to my parents and to ourselves," Miles said of growing up in a home with high expectations for academics. "They instilled it into us at a very young age, the importance of where it can take you in life, even after baseball. So it's definitely a really important thing that we strive to work hard for."

"I think when we first started high school our freshman year, you just have to learn time management," James said of balancing baseball and academics. "It was a little rough, but then got the hang of it, got in rhythm, so it hasn't been too rough."

Right now, the Clark brothers are expected to leave their homes in Southern California and fly all the way to the other side of the country and enroll at Duke, as they're both committed to the university.

Before they were Duke commits, both James and Miles were committed to play at Princeton. But both of them ended up decomitting and reopened their recruiting.

With their recruitment open up again, they both were doing it on their own, as their parents had them list down the schools they wanted to attend on a sheet of paper, while not allowing the other one to know who they had listed down.

During the recruiting period, there was even a chance that they would end up going to different schools, as James took a trip to visit Texas while Miles stayed back home in California.

When signing day happened, destiny came, and the two of them both ended up choosing Duke.

"Our parents, they had us make our own list of our favorite schools and keep it a secret from each other so we wouldn't influence each other's decisions," James said. "I don't know how, I guess we're similar enough, so we ended up having the same school, so it all worked out."

"It wasn't really a package thing, but I guess we're similar enough to (make the same decision)," Miles said of the two blindly committing to Duke.

James said he wasn't surprised when they both ended up choosing Duke, but signing day was one of his favorite moments playing alongside his brother over the years.

"Us signing to the same school, putting pen to paper," James said. "Definitely super special experience, I'll never forget."

For two brothers who have grown up so similar to one another, they do have differences in what they hope their future holds.

Both brothers hope to be playing professional baseball, but they also understand they need a fallback plan.

James hopes to graduate from Duke in 3-4 years, graduating from Duke with his degree in pre-law, while Miles has dreams of either being an engineer or a surgeon.

"He's really with the math stuff, engineering, he really wants to be a doctor, things like that," James said of his twin brother. 

"GPA-wise, Miles will let you know that he's actually the smarter one," Rojo said. "He actually has a higher GPA. But both are really smart kids."