On the Diamond
Texas Tech baseball was picked to finish 5th in the Big 12 preseason poll, with the top four being Oklahoma State, Arizona, TCU and West Virginia. There’s only 14 teams as Iowa State and Colorado don’t have baseball teams. Also of note is that Damian Bravo was also part of the preseason All-Big 12 team.
Double-T 97.3’s Jamie Lent talked to head coach Tim Tadlock at the First Pitch Luncheon. There’s a lot there (so go check it out), but here’s a bit on the pitching:
Tadlock’s Red Raiders suffered a down season in 2024 finishing 33 and 26 overall and missing out on the post season for the first time since 2015. The Texas Tech pitching staff dealt with an array of injuries and the result was a disappointing 6.19 team ERA. The head man knew improving the bullpen was a big part of being better this year, “Right off the bat, we went in and pretty much identified, we really had two bullets in there and we were trying to pick the days to use the bullets. We pretty much decided, let’s have enough bullets back there to be able to come out anytime that we want with a fresh arm and a guy who’s able to execute pitches.” Texas Tech added 16 new pitchers to the roster this season including 5 through the transfer portal, 6 more from the Junior College ranks, and 5 High School recruits.
On the Court
24/7 Sports’ Isaac Trotter has a look at the Big 12 at the midseason point with teams in tiers and has Texas Tech in Tier 2, with Iowa State and Houston as the only teams in Tier 1.
The skinny: You just have to be able to score in this day and age of college basketball, and whew boy, Texas Tech can get a bucket in almost every single way. Transition 3s? Chance McMillian is the guy. Mid-post isolation? Darrion Williams to the rescue. Old-fashioned pick-and-roll? Elijah Hawkins and JT Toppin are nice with it. A guard who can go get one? Christian Anderson is completely unafraid. Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland has no shortage of firepower.
On the Gridiron
24/7 Sports’ Cody Nagel ranks the toughest schedules next season and Nagel thinks that has the easiest slate next year:
16. Texas Tech Red Raiders — .460
2025 opponents: at Arizona State, BYU, at Houston, Kansas, at Kansas State, Oklahoma State, UCF, at Utah, at West Virginia, Kent State, Oregon State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (FCS)
Everything seems to be aligning for Texas Tech to make a big push in 2025. A favorable schedule is always a key to success, and the Red Raiders are the only Big 12 team whose future opponents had a combined win percentage below .500 in 2024. In fact, only Michigan has a lower mark (.453) heading into next season. However, the combined win percentage of the opponents on the Texas Tech 2025 schedule is skewed by Kent State finishing 0-12 this season.
There’s a lot of smoke about Micah Hudson returning to Texas Tech. He entered the transfer portal and landed at Texas A&M where he took a non-football leave of absence, which is all fine. Hudson was reportedly in Lubbock and there are a lot of people tweeting/X’ing about his possible return. Chris Level in his Locked on Texas Tech with Casey Cowan said that it’s complicated and that’s probably true. I would not get your hopes up and I would also tell you that it would be quite the story if he did return. I would also tell you that if you listen to anyone or feel the need to join a service to know exactly what’s happening then I understand that Red Raider Sports is the place to be and Level usually knows what’s happening before anyone, so his his Locked On Texas Tech is a place to start. For me, I’ve never got caught up in the need to know immediately as the news will eventually break and I don’t need to be the first one to know anything.