Clemson Tigers star pitcher ranked among top sophomores this season

THE Clemson Tigers under the leadership of coach Erik Bakich, have become a recruiting machine in recent years. Their incoming freshman class has been ranked among the best in the country.

So did last year’s recruiting class, and one of those players is now considered one of the best college sophomores in the country.

By Perfect gamepitcher Aidan Knaak was ranked No. 22 in his list of the top 100 sophomores in college baseball. He was on the site’s radar last season as he was ranked No. 74 among incoming freshmen.

Knaak had an impressive freshman season for the Tigers, who reached the NCAA Super Regionals last season.

Baseball America is pretty high on the Tigers, ranking them 4th this preseason after going 44-16 with a 20-10 mark in the ACC. Perfect Game, for its part, has Clemson at No. 8.

Clemson went 13-2 in his 15 starts, although he ended up appearing in only six of those decisions and went 5-1. He built a 3.35 ERA while striking out 108 and walking 29 in 83.1 innings. Opposing batters hit just .221 against him and managed just 14 extra base hits.

In five of his 15 starts, he didn’t allow a run and in six starts, he pitched at least six innings. He struck out 10 batters in two starts.

He finished the season leading the team in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts.

His campaign earned him an invitation to the United States collegiate national team training camp.

After the season, he earned first-team All-ACC honors, making him the first Clemson freshman pitcher to earn this honor in nearly 30 years.

He was also selected as a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman Pitcher and to the All-NCBWA All-Freshman team.

He became the second Tiger to earn national Freshman of the Year honors, following Seth Beer in 2016.

He was also named a third team All-American by Baseball AmericaD1Baseball and NCBWA, becoming the fourth Tiger freshman and first Tiger freshman pitcher to earn All-America honors. He was also named a Freshman All-American by Baseball AmericaD1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game.

Before Clemson, he was named Lee County Pitcher of the Year and lettered four times in baseball at Bishop Verot Catholic High School in Fort Myers.