2020 Baseball Roster
Jersey Number 26
Garrett Acton
- Ht./Wt.:
- 6-2 / 215
- Position:
- RHP
- Hometown:
- Lemont, Ill.
- High School:
- Lemont
Career Highs
- Innings pitched: 3.0, at Illinois State, Apr 09, 2019
- Walks allowed: 4, at Illinois State, Apr 09, 2019
- Strikeouts: 3, Coastal Carolina, Apr 03, 2019 ; Penn State, Apr 21, 2019
- Batters faced: 13, at Illinois State, Apr 09, 2019
MLB Draft
- 2016 MLB Draft - 35th Round - Chicago White Sox
Senior - 2020 (COVID-19 Shortened)
- Academic All-America First Team
- The third Academic All-America first team selection in Illinois history and the first in 20 years
- Academic All-District
- Academic All-Big Ten
- Two-time national leader in saves with 19 in 2019 and 6 in 2020
- Illinois' all-time leader in career saves
- Broke Illinois’ career saves record March 8 when he got the final six outs at Elon for his 25th career save
- 25 saves through 70 games (35.7%) in an Illinois uniform from 2019-20
- 25 of Illinois’ 44 wins (56.8%) were saved by Acton from 2019-20
- Illinois Athletics Senior GPA Award for the highest GPA of all senior student-athletes
- NCBWA Preseason All-America first team
- Perfect Game Preseason All-America second team
- Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason All-America second team
- NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
- Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten
- Rated "Best Fastball" in the Big Ten by Baseball America
- No. 237 MLB Draft prospect by D1Baseball
- No. 26 MLB Draft prospect in the Big Ten by Perfect Game
- No. 37 MLB Draft prospect in the Big Ten by D1Baseball
Junior - 2019
- NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award finalist (one of six)
- NCBWA District Player of the Year, the third District Player of the Year in Illinois history
- NCBWA All-America first team
- Perfect Game/Rawlings All-America first team
- ABCA All-America second team
- Collegiate Baseball Newspaper All-America second team
- Mideast All-Region first team
- All-Big Ten first team reliever
- National leader in saves (19)
- 19 saves, 2-3, 2.18 ERA, 33.0 IP, .127 BAA, 18 BB, 34 SO
- Big Ten single-season record for saves (19)
- Illinois single-season record for saves (19)
- Illinois Athletics Junior GPA Award for the highest GPA of all junior student-athletes
- Illinois Athletics Male Athlete of the Year finalist
- Team-best 2.18 ERA
- Team-best 95 strikeouts
- Team-best .127 batting average against
- Team for team-best 30 appearances
- Fifth on the team with 33 innings pitched
- Transferred to Illinois with two years of eligibility remaining
- 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K during six-game foreign trip to Curaçao and Aruba
Sophomore - 2018 (Parkland College)
- 2-3, 4 SV, 2.25 ERA, 32 IP, 25 BB, 44 SO, 13 H as a sophomore
- Committed to Illinois in the fall of his sophomore season at Parkland
Freshman - 2017 (Saint Louis)
- Pitched at Saint Louis University as a freshman in 2016
- 2-1, 6.12 ERA, 32.1 IP as a freshman
High School
- Three-year letterwinner at Lemont
- Played for head coach Brian Storako at Lemont
- 2016 IHSABCA Class 3A Player of the Year
- 2016 IHSABCA Class 3A All-State
- 2016 Herald-News All-Area
- Led Lemont to 2014 and 2016 3A state championships
- Drafted by the White Sox and won the 2016 state title on the same day
Personal
- Born June 15, 1998
- Son of Janette Acton and the late James Gordon Acton
- Father played football at Purdue, Triton College and Eastern Illinois
- Father was a golf professional and head professional at several golf courses in the Chicago area
- One younger sister, Isabel
- Majoring in finance
- Aspires to become a financial planner following his baseball career
- Chose Illinois because, "I thought it offered the best fit academically and athletically, giving me the opportunity to play Big Ten Baseball for a program with a great track record of pitching development while earning a top-tier degree."
Wednesday, March 19
Thursday, February 13
Monday, December 09
Friday, September 22
