Young Jedi At Work: Clemson freshman Aidan Knaak impresses Bakich with preparation

Aidan Knaak ranks among the ACC's leaders in ERA and strikeouts.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Apr 15 14:20:18 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Freshman pitcher Aidan Knaak has been at his best as Clemson hits the meaty part of the ACC schedule, and according to his head coach, it’s like watching a young Jedi at work.

Knaak (pronounced kuh-NOCK) came out of high school as the No. 74 freshman in the nation in the preseason by Perfect Game, the No. 44 freshman in the ACC in the preseason by D1Baseball, and the No. 14 ACC prospect for the 2026 draft in the preseason by Perfect Game.

He has lived up to his billing and more, settling as the Tigers’ Sunday starter, and he continued his good work in Sunday’s 7-0 win over NC State, throwing eight innings of two-hit ball. He allowed no runs and posted a career-high tying ten strikeouts with just one walk.

Clemson’s offense didn’t score until the bottom of the seventh, but the unflappable Knaak never wavered. He went out each inning and went to work.

“Yeah, it's great, but just keep the head down and just keep working on small things at a time and just building off every start,” Knaak said after the game. “And I can't really look back at the bad ones or the good ones, just focus on one day at a time and just keep getting better.”

Erik Bakich, the Tigers’ head coach, says Knaak is different.

“He's the most detail oriented, routine oriented, regimented kid that I maybe have come across in decades,” Bakich said Sunday. “He just goes about his preparation with, it's almost like a methodical tactician where he just is so mature beyond his years. He is an old soul.”

Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, who played for Clemson, is another hurler who paid attention to detail, and Bakich had the two speak.

“We had Spencer Strider come in and I thought we were talking to a Jedi master of the mental game. That's what Spencer Strider is and how he goes about it, and it was almost like a young Aidan Knaak is the same thing, like a young Skywalker there," Bakich said. "The week-to-week approach is he's not building off of anything, it's just, it's his routine and he's very consistent with his routine regardless of what the start is. And that's what makes him good is he just has a laser focus to his preparation of any and everything. That's why we were willing to put him in the rotation as a freshman. He doesn't seem like a freshman.”

Knaak gave up a season-high six earned runs against Florida State three weeks ago but rebounded with seven strong innings each against Miami and Notre Dame, giving up just one run in the process. Counting Sunday’s effort, he’s allowed just one earned run over his last 22 innings, walking just two while posting 29 strikeouts.

He had thrown just 97 pitches Sunday, but Bakich didn’t hesitate to use a reliever in the ninth.

“He is a freshman, and I only say that because he's not used to a workload like this,” Bakich said. “For us to have this season for us to be the team we want to be, have the season we want to have, we're going to need Aidan Knaak to be strong two months from now. So even though he physically could on April 14th throw 100 or 110 pitches and finish the game, we kept him at today at 97, and that may be very valuable down the road, especially with a seven-run lead (Sunday).”