There’s a new pitching coach in Lubbock, folks. Steve Foster is officially joining forces with Tim Tadlock and the Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team. After several years of helping Major League pitchers, it will be truly fascinating to see what Foster is able to do for the Red Raiders as he heads to the college coaching ranks.
Look, a change was truly necessary for the Red Raiders here. They needed a new pitching coach given what we saw on the mound from the entirety of this past season. Things were just a bit of a mess for the Texas Tech baseball team.
And while there were a number of stats that were alarming for the Red Raiders pitching staff in 2025 (as well as 2024), there are a few pitching stats that I’m not totally sure just how much we’ll see improvement on as we get to the next baseball season.
That’s not to say I don’t think improvement will come, but it’s just that I don’t think we’re going to see drastic changes in a couple of areas in 2026. I hope that I’m wrong though.
No. 1: The Red Raiders only had FOUR saves in Big 12 play in 2025
I just don’t know how Foster can really improve the Red Raiders in a drastic way here. Now, I know he’s been a bullpen coach before, specifically focusing on that part of two MLB teams pitching staffs. I get that.
But to be completely honest, expecting Foster to, in just one offseason, take the Red Raiders from the bottom of the Big 12 in saves in conference play to something more respectable is going to be a bit of a tough thing to do.
That’s a big task.
Largely because it would probably take some impressive roster overhauling to get the right sort of arms in the bullpen to be able to do this. Now, maybe that’s something that does happen, but I’m just not expecting a drastic improvement in this space in just one offseason.
No. 2: Texas Tech allowing other teams to put together a .290 batting average against the Red Raiders
Look, this isn’t me holding anything against Foster or any of the pitchers that he and Tadlock might have on the roster for next season. And this isn’t me saying that the opposing team batting average won’t see any sort of improvements from the Texas Tech pitching perspective rolling into next season.
This is me saying that I think there is something of a limit as to how much this stat can improve in just one season with Foster helping out with things.
Of the 14 teams in the Big 12, Texas Tech’s pitching staff letting opposing batters put together a .290 batting average puts the Red Raiders at No 12 in the conference in the stat. That’s not great. But, it’s worth noting that if Texas Tech were to get that number down to .273 (a pretty significant improvement), they’d still rank at No. 12 in the Big 12.
The gap from Oklahoma State, No. 6 in this stat at .256 for opponents’ batting average, and Arizona at No. 11 with a .272 opponents’ batting average is smaller than the gap between Texas Tech at No. 12 and Arizona at No. 11. So even with notable improvement, because of where the Red Raiders are, it really may not seem like a significant change, which would be admittedly a little odd, to be completely honest.