Nick Kurtz

Nicholas Jeffrey Kurtz
(Big Amish)

Bats Left, Throws Left
Height 6' 5", Weight 240 lb.
School Wake Forest University
High School Baylor School
Debut April 23, 2025

Born March 12, 2003 in Lancaster, PA USA

Biographical Information[edit]

Big first baseman Nick Kurtz was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 amateur draft, taken by the then Oakland Athletics out of Wake Forest University. Many observers considered him the best hitting prospect in the draft after he had belted 24 and 22 homers in his final two seasons with the Demon Deacons, and hit over .300 all three years in college. Given his size and the fact he is a lefty, he was originally recruited as a pitcher out of high school, but it soon became apparent that it was his hitting prowess that set him apart. His ability to hit scorching line drives in addition to booming homers earned him comparisons to Hall of Famer Jim Thome. However, he missed a shot at playing in the 2023 College World Series due to a broken rib, and dealt with both a hamstring and a shoulder issue in 2024.

He did not spend too much time in the minors after signing with the Athletics (as would soon be their official name, given they left their long-time home in Oakland at the end of the 2024 season). He played a total of 12 minor league games in 2024, putting up an OPS of 1.283, before tearing up the Arizona Fall League, then in 2025, he started the season in AAA with the Las Vegas Aviators. That was just a brief stop too: in 20 games, he hit .385 with 7 homers to earn a promotion to West Sacramento, CA, site of the A's temporary home base, on April 21st. The main question was where he would be playing, given 1B Tyler Soderstrom was one of the early leaders in the American League home run race, and DH Brent Rooker was probably the team's best hitter, leaving left field - a position he had hardly played in the pros or in college - or some kind of rotation between the three spots as his likely landing place. He made his debut on April 23rd, starting at first base and batting seventh against the Texas Rangers, with Soderstrom in left field. He got his first few big league milestones out of the way quickly, as he singled off Kumar Rocker and drove in a run in the bottom of the 1st, and the Athletics went on to record a 5-2 win. From June 15-20, he homered in five of six games, including one in the last three games, to give him 10 on the season. Two of the long balls were walk-off homers and the A's had won four of the five games in which he had homered. He succeeded teammate Jacob Wilson as the American League Rookie of the Month, winning the honor for June as he hit 7 homers and slugged .597 for the month. On July 25th, he had probably the best offensive game any rookie has ever had when he belted four home runs while going 6 for 6 with 6 runs and 8 RBIs in a 15-3 win over the Houston Astros. He was actually chasing a cycle, having collected the single, double and two homers in his first four at-bats, but couldn't keep the ball in the yard as he homered in his final two turns to the plate to become the second player this season, after Eugenio Suarez, and just the 20th in major league history to hit four long balls in one game. He victimized four different pitchers: Ryan Gusto, Nick Hernandez, Kaleb Ort and position player Cooper Hummel. He was the first player in Athletics history to achieve the feat, the first rookie to do so in the majors as well, and tied Shawn Green's all-time record of collecting 19 total bases in a game. He ended up being named the Rookie of the Month again, but also the AL Player of the Month after batting .395 with 11 homers and an OPS of 1.433. He finished the season at .290 in 117 games with 36 homers and 86 RBIs. His slugging percentage was .619 and his OPS+ 173. He was a unanimous winner of the Rookie of the Year Award and was also named the first baseman on the 2025 MLB All-Rookie Team.

He started the 2026 season a bit slowly as he was hitting just .083 after 8 games and had yet to hit an extra-base hit. His turnaround started on April 5th when he reached base 5 times in a 10-inning 12-10 win over the Houston Astros, getting 2 hits, including a double, and 3 walks. On April 10th, he drew two walks to start a remarkable streak: when the month ended on April 30th, he had drawn at least one walk in 19 consecutive games, which was the third longest of all time, tied with Ted Williams and trailing only Barry Bonds (2 streaks of 20 games) and Roy Cullenbine (22 games in 1947). His OBP was up to .417 by that point. He caught Bonds with another walk on May 1st. His walk streak ended the next day, when he went 2 for 5, and his on-base streak kept going, as he had at least one hit in each of the next five games following his walkless day to hit 32 games on May 8th. The on-base streak reached 46 games on May 23rd, which tied him for the third-longest in team history with the great Rickey Henderson, but he was still a ways away from the 62-game streak put together by Mark McGwire in 1995-1996. The streak ended on May 26th after 48 games. He was named the American League Player of the Month for May, having batted .333 with 5 homers and 26 RBIs during the month.

Notable Achievements[edit]

2025 AL Rookie of the Year Award
2025 MLB All-Rookie Team
AL Silver Slugger Award Winner (2025)
20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2025)
30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2025)

AL Rookie of the Year
2024	2025	2026
Luis Gil	Nick Kurtz	tbd

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Nick Kurtz

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