Eric Rigoberto Gutierrez is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

coach and former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He is the volunteer assistant coach at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

. He played college baseball at

from 2013 to 2016. He was drafted in the 20th round by the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

in the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who ...

, where he would play in their organization until 2018.

Amateur career

High school

Gutierrez played baseball at the high school level for

Sharyland High School Sharyland High School is a high school in Mission, Texas, United States. The school, which is classified as "5A" by the UIL, is a part of the Sharyland Independent School District. The school primarily serves Sharyland, an unincorporated ru ...

Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, in the US state of Texas, United States. The population was 85,778 at the 2020 census and an estimated 86,635 in 2022. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan ...

. During his senior year, he was named 1st Team All-State, 1st Team All-District, and garnered an

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

National Player of the Week. In 2011, he was named a

Louisville Slugger Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

All-American. He signed to play college baseball with Texas Tech.

College

Gutierrez played college baseball at the

Division I (NCAA) NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

level for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas, United States. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams us ...

from 2013 to 2016, starting every game of his career. In his freshman season in 2013, he had a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .251, a .435

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, a .377 on-base percentage, and a .991 fielding percentage. He led the team in home runs, total bases, slugging percentage, hit-by-pitch and fielding percentage. He also set a school record for hits-by-pitch for a freshman. Gutierrez was named as a ''

Collegiate Baseball Magazine ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') was an American publication based in Arizona that considered itself the "voice of amateur baseball" and was published for over 40 yea ...

'' Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American for his performance. In his sophomore season in 2014, he had a batting average of .302, a .539 slugging percentage, a .399 on-base percentage, and a fielding percentage of .997 while leading the Big 12 Conference in home runs with 12. He was named

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest Amateur baseball in the United States, amateur baseball Manager (baseball), coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coach ...

All-Midwest Regional 2nd Team, All-Big 12 1st Team, NCAA Coral Gables Regional All-Tournament Team and earned two Big 12 Player of the Week Honors. The 2014 season also saw the Red Raiders first

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

appearance, after which Gutierrez was selected to participate in the College Home Run Derby in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. He would break the all-time College Home Run Derby record with 52 home runs before finishing as the runner-up to

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

catcher and his former high school teammate

Tres Barrera Felipe Jesus "Tres" Barrera III (born September 15, 1994) is an American professional baseball catcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardin ...

. In his junior season in 2015, he had a .315 batting average, a .443 slugging percentage, a .444 on base percentage, 46 RBI and a fielding percentage of .992. He earned Big 12 Player of the Week and

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Hitter of the Week during the season and was again named an All-Big 12 1st Team selection, along with a selection for the ABCA All-Midwest Region 2nd Team. He was additionally named the top defensive

first basemen A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand p ...

in Division I baseball by being selected for the ABCA Rawlings Gold Glove Team, only the second Red Raider to receive the award. Gutierrez was selected again for the College Home Run Derby, finishing 4th. In his senior season in 2016, the Red Raiders, coached by

Tim Tadlock Tim Tadlock (born December 21, 1968) is a collegiate baseball coach and former player. He served as head coach of the Grayson Vikings representing Grayson County College (GCC) (1997–2005) and the Texas Tech Red Raiders representing Texas Te ...

, he had a .347 batting average, a .469 on-base percentage, a .632 slugging percentage with 12 home runs. The team would win the Big 12 Conference regular season championship, the first for the team since 1998, finishing in the top 5 of the national rankings. Gutierrez was named as the Big 12 Player of the Year, and was one of a school-record 4 players named as All-Big 12 1st Team selections. Gutierrez was only the 2nd player in school history to receive the Player of the Year award. During the season, he also set a career conference record for Player of the Week awards with 5. Following Texas Tech's victory in the Lubbock Regional, Guterriez was named a 1st Team All-American at first base by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'', 2nd Team by ''

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') was an American publication based in Arizona that considered itself the "voice of amateur baseball" and was published for over 40 yea ...

'', 3rd Team by the ABCA, and 2nd Team by D1Baseball.com. Gutierrez finished his regular season college baseball career starting all 230 games he participated in, finishing 1st in Texas Tech's record book for the category. He would break the record during the Lubbock Super Regional victory over Eastern Carolina. During game two of the 2016 College World Series, a two-run homerun by Gutierrez lead Texas Tech to a win over top seeded Florida. He also finished 2nd in at-bats, 3rd in base hits, 3rd in doubles, 3rd in total bases, and 8th in home runs in the school rankings.

Professional career

Gutierrez was drafted by the

in the 20th round of the

2016 MLB Draft The 2016 Major League Baseball draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who ...

. He signed, and after one game with the

GCL Marlins The Florida Complex League Marlins are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Miami Marlins, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to the 2021 season, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Marlins. The team plays i ...

in which he went 3 for 5 with a home run and 3 RBIs, he was promoted to the

Batavia Muckdogs The Batavia Muckdogs are a collegiate summer baseball team in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL). They are located in Batavia, a city in Genesee County, New York, United States. Their home field is Dwyer Stadium in the city o ...

. He spent the rest of 2016 with Batavia where he posted a .218 batting average with five home runs and 36 RBIs. In 2017, he played for the

Greensboro Grasshoppers The Greensboro Grasshoppers are a Minor League Baseball team based in Greensboro, North Carolina. They are members of the South Atlantic League and are the High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They play their home games at First National B ...

, where he batted .258 with seven home runs, 49 RBIs, and a .707 OPS.

Coaching career

On September 5, 2018, Gutierrez returned to Texas Tech as a volunteer assistant coach.

Awards and honors

* Big 12 Conference Player of the Year (2016) * ABCA Rawlings Gold Glove Award (2015) * All-Big 12 Conference 1st Team (2014, 2015, 2016) * ''

'' All-American 1st Team (2016) * ''

'' All-American 2nd Team (2016) * ABCA All-American 3rd Team (2016) * ABCA All-Midwest Region 2nd Team (2015) * ''

'' Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American (2013) * College Home Run Derby participant (2014, 2015)

References

External links

Texas Tech Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez, Eric 1993 births All-American college baseball players Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball players Sportspeople from McAllen, Texas Baseball players from Hidalgo County, Texas Living people Baseball first basemen People from Mission, Texas American baseball players of Mexican descent Gulf Coast Marlins players Batavia Muckdogs players Greensboro Grasshoppers players Jupiter Hammerheads players Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball coaches