SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Former Cal State San Marcos baseball student-athlete Garrett Apker will get an opportunity to play professionally as the right-handed pitcher has signed as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Tigers. 

 

Apker finished the 2022 season with the third-most strikeouts in the CCAA at 80 and had the second-lowest opponent batting average at .221 in 66.2 innings of action. He finished the season with a 5-3 record, two complete games, a 4.18 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 12 starts. The Simi Valley native ended his CSUSM career on a high note by breaking the program's all-time strikeout record with 173 in his final outing while taking All-CCAA second-team honors.

"Signing with the Tigers means everything to my family and I," Apker said. "It reassures the hard work and long hours at the field from myself as well as my parents paid off. It truly is a dream come true, and I'm most excited to prove my ability at the professional level." 

In addition to his career strikeout record, Apker owns the program's strikeouts per nine innings record (9.75) while ranking second for the lowest opponent batting average (.245). Earlier in the 2022 season, Apker broke the program's single-game strikeout record of 13 against then-No. 17 Colorado School of Mines in a complete-game performance.
 
"I am so proud and excited for Garrett," former CSUSM baseball head coach Matt Guiliano said. "He came to us with the determination to make it to the next level, and he achieved that goal. His career is just starting as a professional, and I'm looking forward to following his career."
 
Apker is the fifth Cougar in program history to sign as an undrafted free agent with a major league club and is the first to do so since Steve Messner signed with the San Francisco Giants in 2014.