It was a dream start to his Clemson career for pitcher Aidan Knaak.
The freshman from Fort Myers, Florida, had one of the best seasons as a freshman in all of college baseball, being announced as the NCBWA National Freshman Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday.
But it was not always these incredible achievements that Knaak was eyeing when he stepped foot on Clemson’s campus: he had a smaller goal when he entered his freshman year just a year ago.
““These past few years of high school, my goal was just to at least start as a freshman,” he said to the media on Wednesday. “As it inched closer and closer to that day, I just do whatever I can just to do that. Making that my goal, I think I accomplished a lot more, just to reach that first goal.”
But the accolades do not stop there. A First Team All-ACC nod, a freshman All-American spot and an invite to play for Team USA Collegiate National Team training camp, going to North Carolina with fellow teammate Cam Cannarella to participate.
Similar to the type of person that he is, Knaak put that aside while speaking to the media while talking about Clemson baseball’s devastating end to their season this past weekend, where the freshman started on the mound in the Tigers’ loss to Florida in the super regional. Knaak describes the game as “one of the craziest” of his young career.
“That was one of the craziest games that I have played in,” he said. “Between Cam’s awesome catch, coming out and hitting that game-tying homer and then Alden Mathes. He thought it was going to be his last AB, but we just kept extending the game and he ends up hitting a go-ahead home run which was really huge for our team. That was his last at-bat, a go-ahead home run, that was pretty sick.”
As a freshman to be one of Clemson’s top arms for years to come, Knaak puts the loss past him, similar to many of his teammates, in order to help the team get back to the College World Series for the first time since 2010.
“All good things must come to an end,” Knaak said, “so right now just put that behind us, appreciate all the great people on Team 127 and take it on to next year.”
With fans worried about losing a young talent, Knaak understands the objective of the transfer portal for some players, but he reassured fans that he will be back at Doug Kingsmore Stadium next season, saying that he is “not going anywhere”.
“Everyone on this team knows how good the program is, so if they’re going to hit the portal, it’s for their benefit,” Knaak said. “It’s not anything personal with this team, but everyone who’s here in this program is going to want to stay. But some guys, they got to do what they got to do.”
But perhaps the most important thing to Knaak, which many freshmen undergo when their first year ends, is the departure of the seniors. With many, like Blake Wright and Jimmy Obertop to name a few, the freshman appreciates everything that they did throughout his opening season with the Tigers, calling them “the heart and soul of the team”.
“They took all of us under [their] wing, so I really appreciate them for that,” he acknowledged. “Even all of the transfer and grad guys, they were such a great class [and] such a great group of guys.”
Aidan Knaak
With eyes on the offseason now, Knaak has a few things that he plans to do in addition to the training camp, which will take place throughout late June and early July.
“This offseason, work on some strength things with Rick [Franzblau] and wanting to focus on increasing the arsenal, so maybe adding one more pitch. And then, keep and maintain everything in my arsenal as well.”
While Team 127’s story has been completed for Clemson baseball, Knaak prepares to take a higher role as a leader into next season, something head coach Erik Bakich wants him to do to take the next step as a player. That will be one of many things that the rising sophomore looks forward to as he looks forward to the 2025 season at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
“I’m going to appreciate the accolades I got this season and get ready for next season and try to pull Team 128 to Omaha,” Knaak said.
