Baseball
Gutierrez, Eric
Eric Gutierrez
- Title:
- Volunteer Assistant Coach
- Email:
- eric.gutierrez@ttu.edu
Former Red Raider All-American first baseman Eric “Gute” Gutierrez closed his seventh season on staff at Texas Tech and his first season as an assistant coach in 2025, after being promoted from his director of operations role prior to the 2025 season.
Gutierrez assumed the director of operations role in 2024 after being promoted from his role as volunteer assistant coach.
Serving as the Red Raiders hitting coach in 2025 and first base coach, Gutierrez assisted a Red Raider offense that hit .287 and walked 400 times on the season.
Gutierrez also helped mentor First Team All-Big 12 outfielders Logan Hughes and Damian Bravo as well as Second Team All-Big 12 first baseman Robin Villeneuve.
Under the tutelage of Gutierrez, Hughes hit .327 and had a team-best 19 home runs, four triples and 13 doubles. Hughes’ 19 bombs led the Big 12 Conference during regular season play, while Bravo was one of seven players at the Power Four level to record an average of .300 or better, 10+ home runs, 15+ stolen bases, 10+ doubles and 50+ RBIs.
A transfer from Tennessee, Villeneuve also shined with the assistance of Gutierrez as the first baseman hit a career-best .365 in 2025, hitting a team-best 18 doubles, 12 home runs and driving in 49 runs. In the field, Villeneuve also shined as he made just four errors and recorded a fielding percentage of .991.
Gutierrez returned to Lubbock to join Tim Tadlock’s staff for the start of the 2019 season after wrapping up a professional career in the Miami Marlins organization. In 2016, Gutierrez was drafted in the 20th round by the Marlins and spent three years with the Batavia Muckdogs, Greensboro Grasshoppers and the Jupiter Hammerheads.
Gutierrez, a native of Mission, was a four-year letterwinner and one of the most decorated student-athletes to don the scarlet & black at Texas Tech. He started every game of his collegiate career, primarily at first base, totaling 244 games, the most in school history. Gutierrez still holds four school records, leading the team in eight yearly categories and checks in with 30 marks that rank in the top 10 in the Tech record books.
Texas Tech has reached the College World Series three times while Gutierrez has been associated with the program, going in 2014 and 2016 as a student-athlete before returning in 2019 during his first year in his current role.
The 2019 Red Raiders made their deepest run at the CWS to date, finishing as one of the last four teams remaining to earn a No. 4 final ranking, matching the highest in club history. Tech finished 46-20 overall and 16-8 in the Big 12 to earn its third Big 12 title in four years. The Red Raiders were awarded the No. 8 national seed, advancing to Omaha for the fourth time in six years.
Gutierrez helped mentor senior first baseman Cameron Warren into All-America accolades in 2019. Warren, who went undrafted as a junior, led the team in batting (.355), home runs (18), RBI (79), and slugging (.665) while committing just two errors on the year for a .997 fielding percentage. Warren was drafted in the 22nd round in the 2019 MLB Draft.
The Red Raiders were poised for yet another run to Omaha in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short in the middle of March. Tech started strong out of the gates and earned the program’s first No. 1 ranking since 1997 before finishing with a 16-3 record. Despite the abbreviated season, Gutierrez and the coaching staff helped several Red Raiders earn national recognition as Brian Klein, Micah Dallas and Cal Conley were named All-Americans while Conley, Jace Jung and Nate Rombach were chosen as Freshman All-Americans.
Tech’s 2021 season was one that saw a squad rally together and fight through a slow start and a season that plagued them with injuries. The Red Raiders won 14 in a row after its opening series. Tech finished 39-17, including 27 wins in the friendly confines of Rip Griffin Park. Texas Tech was rewarded with a No. 8 national seed in the NCAA tournament and hosted a regional and super regional. Tech has qualified to host a regional each season Gutierrez has been on the coaching staff.
The 2022 Red Raiders continued what it had been doing every year since 2016, competing in the NCAA Tournament, but it was new territory as the previous five regionals were hosted in Lubbock and this edition sent Texas Tech on the road. The Red Raiders advanced to a Regional Final for the sixth-straight year, with its run ending there in 2022 to CWS participant Notre Dame. Once the season came to a close, Texas Tech finished inside the Top 25 of all six national polls in the end-of-season rankings, extending a steak that also started in 2016.
PLAYING CAREER
Over his four-year career at Tech, Gutierrez racked up a .302 batting average behind 264 hits, including 59 doubles, five triples and 36 homers, leaving the collegiate ranks with a .302/.423/.505 line. He also totaled 193 RBI and 173 runs scored, while reaching base 195 times via walk and hit-by-pitch.
Gutierrez immediately made an impact upon joining the Red Raiders as a freshman in 2013, Tadlock’s first year as head coach, becoming the ninth player in school history to earn freshman All-America honors. He was the only Red Raider to play and start in all 56 games, batting cleanup for 42 of those games on his way to a .251 average with 48 hits, 29 RBI and 35 runs scored, including seven home runs, with four in consecutive games, the most by a freshman at Tech since 2010.
In 2014, Gutierrez helped guide the Red Raiders to their first College World Series in program history after being named to the NCAA Coral Gables Regional All-Tournament Team before a Lubbock Super Regional victory to punch Tech’s ticket to Omaha. Sixty-two of his 66 starts came at the cleanup spot and he improved his marks to a 302 average with 74 hits, 18 doubles, two triples and 12 homers, along with 58 RBI and 46 runs scored. He finished the year ranked in the top 30 in the NCAA in three categories on his way to a Big 12 Player of the Year honors by the Waco Tribune-Herald and ABCA All-Midwest Regional Second Team accolades.
Gutierrez raised his batting average again in 2015, hitting .315 behind 64 hits, including 28 for extra bases, to go with 46 RBI and 38 runs scored as a junior. He added first team All-Big 12 honors and ABCA All-Midwest Region team accolades for the second-straight season before having his best year as a collegian in his final year in 2016.
The 2016 campaign saw the Red Raiders reach the College World Series for the second time in three years, as well as the start of consecutive seasons with Big 12 titles and No. 5 National Seed rankings heading into postseason play. Gutierrez captured the Big 12 Player of the Year award given out by the conference coaches and five All-America accolades after hitting .333 over 67 games. He finished the year with 78 hits, including 17 doubles, a triple and 13 homers, as well as 60 RBI and 54 runs scored.
After the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Gutierrez had the opportunity to participate in the College Home Run Derby, literally leaving his mark on TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. In 2014, he broke the derby record by smashing 52 homers and finished runner-up at the event, smashing the previous mark of 20 while sending 29 over 400 feet. The next year, he finished fourth at the event with 17, coming just shy of making the final.
In August 2018, Gutierrez graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in general studies.
Gutierrez assumed the director of operations role in 2024 after being promoted from his role as volunteer assistant coach.
Serving as the Red Raiders hitting coach in 2025 and first base coach, Gutierrez assisted a Red Raider offense that hit .287 and walked 400 times on the season.
Gutierrez also helped mentor First Team All-Big 12 outfielders Logan Hughes and Damian Bravo as well as Second Team All-Big 12 first baseman Robin Villeneuve.
Under the tutelage of Gutierrez, Hughes hit .327 and had a team-best 19 home runs, four triples and 13 doubles. Hughes’ 19 bombs led the Big 12 Conference during regular season play, while Bravo was one of seven players at the Power Four level to record an average of .300 or better, 10+ home runs, 15+ stolen bases, 10+ doubles and 50+ RBIs.
A transfer from Tennessee, Villeneuve also shined with the assistance of Gutierrez as the first baseman hit a career-best .365 in 2025, hitting a team-best 18 doubles, 12 home runs and driving in 49 runs. In the field, Villeneuve also shined as he made just four errors and recorded a fielding percentage of .991.
Gutierrez returned to Lubbock to join Tim Tadlock’s staff for the start of the 2019 season after wrapping up a professional career in the Miami Marlins organization. In 2016, Gutierrez was drafted in the 20th round by the Marlins and spent three years with the Batavia Muckdogs, Greensboro Grasshoppers and the Jupiter Hammerheads.
Gutierrez, a native of Mission, was a four-year letterwinner and one of the most decorated student-athletes to don the scarlet & black at Texas Tech. He started every game of his collegiate career, primarily at first base, totaling 244 games, the most in school history. Gutierrez still holds four school records, leading the team in eight yearly categories and checks in with 30 marks that rank in the top 10 in the Tech record books.
Texas Tech has reached the College World Series three times while Gutierrez has been associated with the program, going in 2014 and 2016 as a student-athlete before returning in 2019 during his first year in his current role.
The 2019 Red Raiders made their deepest run at the CWS to date, finishing as one of the last four teams remaining to earn a No. 4 final ranking, matching the highest in club history. Tech finished 46-20 overall and 16-8 in the Big 12 to earn its third Big 12 title in four years. The Red Raiders were awarded the No. 8 national seed, advancing to Omaha for the fourth time in six years.
Gutierrez helped mentor senior first baseman Cameron Warren into All-America accolades in 2019. Warren, who went undrafted as a junior, led the team in batting (.355), home runs (18), RBI (79), and slugging (.665) while committing just two errors on the year for a .997 fielding percentage. Warren was drafted in the 22nd round in the 2019 MLB Draft.
The Red Raiders were poised for yet another run to Omaha in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short in the middle of March. Tech started strong out of the gates and earned the program’s first No. 1 ranking since 1997 before finishing with a 16-3 record. Despite the abbreviated season, Gutierrez and the coaching staff helped several Red Raiders earn national recognition as Brian Klein, Micah Dallas and Cal Conley were named All-Americans while Conley, Jace Jung and Nate Rombach were chosen as Freshman All-Americans.
Tech’s 2021 season was one that saw a squad rally together and fight through a slow start and a season that plagued them with injuries. The Red Raiders won 14 in a row after its opening series. Tech finished 39-17, including 27 wins in the friendly confines of Rip Griffin Park. Texas Tech was rewarded with a No. 8 national seed in the NCAA tournament and hosted a regional and super regional. Tech has qualified to host a regional each season Gutierrez has been on the coaching staff.
The 2022 Red Raiders continued what it had been doing every year since 2016, competing in the NCAA Tournament, but it was new territory as the previous five regionals were hosted in Lubbock and this edition sent Texas Tech on the road. The Red Raiders advanced to a Regional Final for the sixth-straight year, with its run ending there in 2022 to CWS participant Notre Dame. Once the season came to a close, Texas Tech finished inside the Top 25 of all six national polls in the end-of-season rankings, extending a steak that also started in 2016.
PLAYING CAREER
Over his four-year career at Tech, Gutierrez racked up a .302 batting average behind 264 hits, including 59 doubles, five triples and 36 homers, leaving the collegiate ranks with a .302/.423/.505 line. He also totaled 193 RBI and 173 runs scored, while reaching base 195 times via walk and hit-by-pitch.
Gutierrez immediately made an impact upon joining the Red Raiders as a freshman in 2013, Tadlock’s first year as head coach, becoming the ninth player in school history to earn freshman All-America honors. He was the only Red Raider to play and start in all 56 games, batting cleanup for 42 of those games on his way to a .251 average with 48 hits, 29 RBI and 35 runs scored, including seven home runs, with four in consecutive games, the most by a freshman at Tech since 2010.
In 2014, Gutierrez helped guide the Red Raiders to their first College World Series in program history after being named to the NCAA Coral Gables Regional All-Tournament Team before a Lubbock Super Regional victory to punch Tech’s ticket to Omaha. Sixty-two of his 66 starts came at the cleanup spot and he improved his marks to a 302 average with 74 hits, 18 doubles, two triples and 12 homers, along with 58 RBI and 46 runs scored. He finished the year ranked in the top 30 in the NCAA in three categories on his way to a Big 12 Player of the Year honors by the Waco Tribune-Herald and ABCA All-Midwest Regional Second Team accolades.
Gutierrez raised his batting average again in 2015, hitting .315 behind 64 hits, including 28 for extra bases, to go with 46 RBI and 38 runs scored as a junior. He added first team All-Big 12 honors and ABCA All-Midwest Region team accolades for the second-straight season before having his best year as a collegian in his final year in 2016.
The 2016 campaign saw the Red Raiders reach the College World Series for the second time in three years, as well as the start of consecutive seasons with Big 12 titles and No. 5 National Seed rankings heading into postseason play. Gutierrez captured the Big 12 Player of the Year award given out by the conference coaches and five All-America accolades after hitting .333 over 67 games. He finished the year with 78 hits, including 17 doubles, a triple and 13 homers, as well as 60 RBI and 54 runs scored.
After the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Gutierrez had the opportunity to participate in the College Home Run Derby, literally leaving his mark on TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. In 2014, he broke the derby record by smashing 52 homers and finished runner-up at the event, smashing the previous mark of 20 while sending 29 over 400 feet. The next year, he finished fourth at the event with 17, coming just shy of making the final.
In August 2018, Gutierrez graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in general studies.
Highlights: Cincinnati (Big 12 Tournament)
Wednesday, May 21
Behind the Mic - UC vs TTU
Wednesday, May 21
Preview Presser: Cincinnati (B12 Tournament)
Tuesday, May 20
Highlights: BYU (Game Three)
Saturday, May 17
