Aidan Knaak anchors the Clemson pitching staff.

Brandon Rink - Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer - Tuesday, January 14 2025

Two early college baseball preseason polls feature Clemson in the Top 15, although with some variance in its position.

Perfect Game was the first out last week with a No. 8 ranking. That is third-best in the ACC behind Virginia (3) and Florida State (6).

The full Top 5 includes Texas A&M, LSU, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. Other ranked ACC teams include Duke (9), Wake Forest (16), and UNC (19).

PG has two All-ACC picks from the Tigers with center fielder Cam Cannarella and right-handed pitcher Aidan Knaak.

D1Baseball.com also released a preseason ranking that has the Tigers No. 15, which is six spots back of where they finished in the final 2024 ranking there.

D1Baseball's Top 5 is Texas A&M, Virginia, LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas, and more ACC reps are found with UNC (6), Florida State (9), Duke (11), NC State (13) and Wake Forest (14).

Clemson returns four position player starters with Cannarella, Tristan Bissetta, Andrew Ciufo and Jarren Purify, losing lineup regulars in Jacob Hinderleider, Alden Mathes, Nolan Nawrocki, Jimmy Obertop and Blake Wright.

Two starting pitchers return with Ethan Darden and Knaak, while two move on in Billy Barlow (transfer) and Tristan Smith (MLB draft).

All totaled, Clemson returns 24 lettermen and adds transfer portal entries in Cal Baptist INF Josh Paino, Purdue INF Luke Gaffney, Michigan INF Collin Priest, Indiana State OF Dominic Listi, Wake Forest LHP Hudson Lee, Seton Hall RHP Michael Gillen and The Citadel RHP Luke Kissenberth.

2️⃣ Tigers are among the top-75 juniors in the nation in the preseason according to @PerfectGameUSA. 🐅

5️⃣ @CamCannarella
6️⃣6️⃣ @TheLukeGaffney pic.twitter.com/TsOMchZ6WG
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) January 14, 2025

4️⃣ Tigers are among the top-75 sophomores in the nation in the preseason according to @PerfectGameUSA. 🐅

2️⃣2️⃣ @aidan_knaak
5️⃣0️⃣ @JarrenPurify
6️⃣8️⃣ @JustinLeg23
7️⃣4️⃣ @collinpriest13 pic.twitter.com/qWGZ1MtMsG
— Clemson Baseball (@ClemsonBaseball) January 12, 2025

.@ClemsonBaseball is extremely excited about freshman third baseman @josh_castellani, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound lefthanded hitter with huge upside.

"He’s got a really, really bright future.” pic.twitter.com/h8pEYv8uOl
— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) January 13, 2025