Strider’s strides from CAK toward pro baseball
KNOXVILLE — Christian Academy of Knoxville baseball head coach Tommy Pharr has coached some of Knox County’s top high school baseball players, both with the Warriors and at Farragut High School, combining to capture nine state championships.
And in 2020, Pharr had hopes of coaching some of his latest talent in quest of a fourth consecutive Division II-A state championship, but those aspirations were halted when the COVID-19 pandemic brought a premature end to the baseball season and the school year.
Pharr and the Warriors were robbed of their season, so there wasn’t much joy on the diamond last spring.
But Pharr did experience some good times during last month’s Major League Baseball Draft when one of his former players, Spencer Strider, was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round.
Strider, a right-handed pitcher for Clemson the past three years, was selected by the Atlanta Braves with the 125th overall pick.
Pharr couldn’t have been happier for Strider, who couldn’t be reached for comment. “It’s just great to see a kid like that get to chase his dream of playing professional baseball,” Pharr said. “He’s always had that dream and he’s such a great kid, and he works hard.
“Talking to him, you knew he was more interested in professional baseball than your average kid,” the coach added. “He always knew everything about professional baseball, and he knew everything about the Cleveland Indians.”
Strider was drafted by the Indians out of high school in 2017, taken in the 35th round, but opted to play for the Tigers in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
During his time with the Warriors, Strider was instrumental to CAK’s success on the diamond, according to Pharr.
A high school All-American in 2017, Strider was named Gatorade Player of the Year after helping the Warriors win the 2017 Division I Class AA statecChampionship before the program, and all CAK sports, moved to Division II.
“He’s a hard worker and he had a hand in the success that we’ve had here. He had a hand in a state championship for us,” Pharr said. “And then he went to Clemson and had some success there.”
Things worked out well early at Clemson on the mound, as Strider earned freshman All-American honors while also a member of the ACC All-Freshman Team.
The former CAK star went 5-2 his first season with the Tigers with a 4.76 earned-run average. He made 22 appearances, including six starts. He posted 70 strikeouts in 51 innings.
“Then, his sophomore year, he had an injury,” Pharr said.
Strider was red-shirted in 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he returned in 2020 and made four appearances (no decisions in any of those games) for the Tigers (all starts) before the pandemic also shut down college baseball.
“But he worked hard and he came back from that and I’m just really happy for him because he a great player and an even better young man,” Pharr said.
Sporting a 4.50 ERA during the abbreviated season, Strider struck out 19 while walking only three in 12 innings of work.
