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Texas Tech baseball: Previewing the 2020 Red Raider season

By Matthew Conner

CORAL GABLES, FL - JUNE 2: Head coach Tim Tadlock #6 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on as the players warm up prior to the game against the Miami Hurricanes in during the Coral Gables Regional at the NCAA Baseball Tournament on June 2, 2014 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida. Miami defeated Texas Tech 2-1 in ten innings to force a championship game. ((Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
CORAL GABLES, FL - JUNE 2: Head coach Tim Tadlock #6 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on as the players warm up prior to the game against the Miami Hurricanes in during the Coral Gables Regional at the NCAA Baseball Tournament on June 2, 2014 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida. Miami defeated Texas Tech 2-1 in ten innings to force a championship game. ((Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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The lineup will still score plenty of runs but just in a different way

Though Tech lost some tremendous players after last year, it’s always reassuring to have an All-American back for his senior season to help steady the ship.  That’s what the Red Raiders have in second baseman Brian Klein.

Hitting .315 last year, he had nine homers, 57 RBI, and 24 multi-hit games.  And in Omaha, he hit a pair of homers becoming the first Red Raider to homer multiple times in a single CWS.   Now, he enters the year as a preseason All-American and the unquestioned leader of this team both on the field and in the locker room.

Junior catcher Braxton Fulford is expected to have a big season as well.  The Lubbock native started 57 games behind the plate last year and hit .298 with four home runs, nine doubles, and one triple.  He drove in 34 runs and scored 35 times himself as he saw his average jump over 100 points from his freshman season.

We know junior Dylan Neuse will be near the top of the lineup in 2020 but where he will play in the field is yet to be seen.  Last year, he hit .298 with eight round-trippers and 51 RBI while also drawing 44 walks as an outfielder.

His speed is a tremendous asset (he led the team with eight triples in 2019) which makes him a natural center fielder.  However, he was also mentioned as a possible third base option Friday by Tim Tadlock.

Other names that Red Raider fans might recognize are Cole Stillwell (.268 average in 2019), Tanner O’Tremba (.261 average, 20 RBI), and 2019 Super Regional hero Kurt Wilson (.227 average, 17 RBI).  Each of those players could be in store for a breakout season after showing plenty of potential last spring.

In all, this lineup isn’t going to be as powerful as last year’s was with Jung and Warren.  But expect this team to be more versatile at the plate and play more station-to-station baseball.  With the possibility of elite speed at almost every spot in the lineup, the 2020 Red Raiders should score plenty of runs, they may just do so in a much different manner than we’ve grown accustomed to in Lubbock.

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