Clemson baseball will return in less than 80 days, and one Clemson pitcher will be a focal point of how much success the 2026 Clemson Tigers baseball team has.
Returning for his third season with Clemson, Aidan Knaak is a leader on this Clemson baseball team. The right-handed pitcher is getting interest for the 2026 MLB Draft next summer, earning an MLB Draft Board spotlight from Perfect Game.
https://x.com/PG_Draft/status/1993520995299475468?s=20
Coming into his junior season, Knaak has a career 14-2 record with a 3.78 ERA over 173.2 career innings, adding 110 strikeouts over his first two seasons at Clemson. The Fort Myers, Florida, native is an established ace at the top of the weekend rotation for Erik Bakich and his staff.
Posting eerily similar numbers in his freshman and sophomore seasons, Knaak is established an uber-consistent arm in the Clemson rotation. Appearing in 15 games as a freshman, Knaak finished with a 5-1 record, registering 83.1 innings pitched and 108 strikeouts in the 2024 season. In the next year, Knaak was able to win four more games but only threw seven more innings (90.1 innings pitched) and finished with a 9-1 record with 110 strikeouts. Knaak’s ERA was the only area that showed a real change between his freshman and sophomore seasons, with his ERA jumping from 3.35 in his freshman season to 4.18 in his sophomore season.
“Knaak features a mid-90s FB (fastball) with jump out of the hand, a tighter low-80s CB (curveball) with good bite to it, & one of the better CHs (changeups) in the class. Tons of feel to sequence/tunnel. Ranked 6th on the board,” Perfect Game Draft posted about the junior right-handed pitcher.
Knaak is secured as the ace in the weekend starting rotation for the Tigers when their 2026 season begins in February. The right-handed pitcher hopes to join the list of Clemson baseball players drafted, joining the likes of Cam Cannarella, Spencer Strider, Logan Davidson, Khalil Greene, and Seth Beer.
The Clemson baseball season is just under 80 days away, seemingly the first time Clemson baseball fans will see Knaak in action for his junior season.