Athletics' Nick Kurtz making MLB history just a year after college

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

It'd be obvious if that ah-ha sequence came July 25, when Kurtz became the first rookie in major league history to hit four home runs in a game, a 6-for-6 night in which he also tied the major league record with 19 total bases.
Or perhaps by month's end, when Kurtz had tallied 25 extra-base hits, one shy of Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx's franchise record set in 1932, earning him American League rookie and player of the month honors.
For Brent Rooker, though, the jaw dropped for good over two nights in June, when his young teammate's greatest attributes - the gorgeous swing, the inner calm, the prodigious power - came together in a manner that turns bad ballclubs good.
The Athletics - housed in Sacramento for the moment - might have been swept in four games by the Houston Astros if not for Kurtz. He hit a pair of walk-off home runs in that four-game series, coming off Astros relief aces Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader, moonshots that sent thousands of fans gleefully into the Yolo County night.
"He was good before that," Rooker, the A's two-time All-Star outfielder, tells USA TODAY Sports, "but everybody realized how good he could be. Those were two of the better relievers in the entire league. He had great at-bats against them in crucial situations and hit two home runs to win two games.
"As impressive as he was prior to that, those two nights kind of shined a light on how special he is."
How special?
Special enough to debut April 23 yet still post 23 homers by early August, to go along with a .307 average, 1.035 ERA and 61 RBIs, leading all rookies.
Special enough to mark that epic four-homer night in Houston (the kid doesn't like the Astros, it seems) not as an apex but rather the midpoint of a 20-game heater in which he batted .480 with nine homers and a 1.575 OPS.
And special enough to earn the esteem of a young yet salty clubhouse with his quiet yet significant presence.
"The joy of all of it," says A's manager Mark Kotsay, "is the humility that he shows day in and day out."
'They fly through the minor leagues'
It would be easy for Kurtz to carry the traits of an entitled young baseball bro. In short, he's always been elite, even after he left the snowy climes of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in search of greater competition.
Kurtz made enough of a splash to earn a spot on Team USA's 12-and-under team in 2015, a squad that won eight of nine games to claim a WBSC World Cup title in Taiwan. Kurtz was a slugger and also the top pitcher on that team, but it was as much networking opportunity as it was youth baseball nirvana.
A handful of teammates went on to attend Baylor School, a college prep boarding school and hothouse for baseball development in Tennessee. As Kurtz schlepped through the uncertain weather patterns of Central Pennsylvania in spring, his pals' recruiting efforts finally paid off.
"I was playing in the snow and bad weather in Pennsylvania," says Kurtz, "so I decided maybe going south was the best thing for me as a player. It just kind of worked out that way."
And what a squad. Christian Moore went on to star at Tennessee and was chosen four slots behind Kurtz in the 2024 draft; he also made his major league debut this season, for the Los Angeles Angels. Infielder Henry Godbout went on to Virginia, was drafted in the second round in July and signed with the Boston Red Sox.
In his junior year, Kurtz said, almost the entire lineup was committed to Atlantic Coast or Southeastern conference schools.
Kurtz went to Wake Forest, a school better known for its "pitching lab," yet whose rep for churning out sluggers is about to grow significantly.
It was there that Kurtz, under associate head coach Bill Cilento and assistant Matthew Wessinger, took both his mechanics and approach to a higher level.
"That's stayed true from my freshman year in college," says Kurtz, "to where I am today."
By his junior year, Kurtz's statistics were predictably video game variety - a .531 on-base percentage and 22 homers in 54 games, and the A's snagged Kurtz fourth overall, two picks after teammate Chase Burns, a right-handed pitcher, was selected by Cincinnati.
Yet consider this: Barely a year later, Kurtz has already hit one more home run in the big leagues (in just 75 games) than he did his senior season at Wake Forest.
How has Kurtz made the game's highest level seem as simple as a weekend series at Duke?
He points to the A's most recent draft pick - left-hander Jamie Arnold, chosen 11th overall out of Florida State - as an example of how the college game is, perhaps more than ever, an express lane to prepare young players for the big leagues.
"You see more and more guys getting called up earlier than you've ever seen before," says Kurtz. "More kids, very talented guys are going to college, especially with NIL - more guys are getting to school.
"We picked Jamie Arnold this year. I faced him many times and that's as pro-ready an arm I've seen. I think he's one of the best. Every school in the SEC, ACC, they might have a guy or two like that.
"The advancements we've made internally at the school have prepared all of us."
The A's will certainly vouch for that. Kurtz is now the overwhelming favorite to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors, but until he suffered a fractured forearm, A's shortstop Jacob Wilson - drafted in 2023, debuted in 2024, an All-Star in 2025 - was the choice.
"Those guys, it seems like they fly through the minor leagues and are ready to compete at the big league level," says A's catcher Shea Langeliers, drafted ninth overall out of Baylor by Atlanta in 2019. "The college game is advancing and those kids are more mature.
"The talent level is getting closer to the minor league level, so you're almost playing minor league baseball in college."
A big week for 'Big Amish'
Yet Kurtz, Langeliers says, is different.
"Seeing him for the first time in spring training, being around him, thinking of when I was 22, compared to where he's at at 22, it's just a massive difference," he says. "Maturity-wise, how he sees the game, how quickly he's adaptable and adjustable, it's been really impressive."
Kotsay, in his fourth season as A's manager, hints at an extremely high ceiling for Kurtz based on the dispatch with which he adjusts to pitchers. Kurtz's 11.4% walk rate is well above average, but as he matures as a hitter, he should cut into a 29.4% K rate.
"It's really eye-opening to see a young player make adjustments almost pitch-to-pitch in an at-bat, and he's got that ability, which is really special," says Kotsay. "When we talk about classifying big league hitters, I always say, guys in the Hall of Fame make adjustments pitch-to-pitch.
"Guys that are All-Stars make adjustments at-bat to at-bat, and guys that are everyday players, it can be a game or a series before the adjustment's made.
"I think he's leaning on that top one - where he's got a knack to make an adjustment pitch-to-pitch."
Kurtz is enjoying a big week in the Mid-Atlantic - he had roughly 40 family and friends roll down from Lancaster to Nationals Park; and no, despite Kurtz's "Big Amish" nickname teammates bestowed upon him, they did not travel by horse and buggy.
A larger throng is expected this weekend at Baltimore's Camden Yards, where Kurtz attended countless games as a kid.
Success came quickly then and, somehow, it's coming even faster now.
"I would say I'm a little shocked, surprised," says Kurtz. "I knew I was a good hitter, but having a really good rookie year is pretty cool to see."
And there's still two more months for Kurtz to expand what seems to be a limitless horizon.