Athletics Nick Kurtz Making Immediate Impact In His Rookie Campaign

Athletics’ Nick Kurtz, right, scores on a single hit by Tyler Soderstrom in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Alyssa Howell)

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It’s been a long, strange trip for the Athletics in their first season away from Oakland. After a respectable start they hit the skids late in the first half and have cemented theirselves as 2025 non-contenders, but have quietly assembled an impressive young nucleus, particularly on the position player side. They have locked up DH Brent Rooker and RF Lawrence Butler for significant terms, and also have affordable young pieces in place at the key positions of catcher (Shea Langeliers) and shortstop (Jacob Wilson), and acquired another potentially huge one at the trading deadline in SS Leodalis de Vries, the meaty part of the return from the Padres in their trade for closer Mason Miller. Arguably their most impressive building block is 1B Nick Kurtz, who has mashed from the day he advanced to the MLB level earlier this season.

Kurtz took a rocket ship to the major leagues – he was the A’s first round pick (4th overall) in the 2024 draft. He logged all of 50 minor league plate appearances last year and another 101 this season before being called up to the big leagues. He raked every step of the way and hasn’t let up at the game’s top level. Each season I produce a list of the top minor league position player prospects based on production relative to league and level, adjusted for age. It’s a purely statistically based list, and since it doesn’t adjust for position or ball park, the rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. Kurtz didn’t have enough plate appearances to even be considered for my 2024 year-end list, but did rank #29 in my 2025 mid-season list.

Kurtz’ obvious carry tool is big-time, all-fields power. He has obvious, in-game opposite field pop, and can also turn on the ball for tape-measure pull-side power. He’s a fly ball hitter who doesn’t pop up much – that is a relatively rare combo, and it speaks very highly for his future. Though his home park is a launching pad, he’s been just as good on the road. He does exhibit some of the typical downsides of young power hitters – there is plenty of swing-and-miss to his game (30.3% K rate), and his BB rate (11.9%) is fine considering his limited experience, but has room to grow. He’s struggled against lefties (.203-.258-.405), and is also a fairly one-dimensional player, offering minimal baserunning or defensive value. But the power carries – heck, he almost became the first player ever to hit five homers in a game recently.

Just last week, I took a look at the developing AL MVP race. I only considered players with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title as of July 31, so Kurtz was excluded. A quick glance at Kurtz’ slash line leads one to believe that he would be in the MVP mix had he started the season at the MLB level. So I went back and subjected Kurtz’ body of work to the same batted ball-based process used in that MVP race article.

The main takeaway – as good as Kurtz has been, his raw numbers have gotten a little bit ahead of his current true talent level. He’s actually been quite fortunate across all batted ball types (308 Unadjusted vs. 253 Adjusted Fly Ball Contact Score, 164 vs. 111 Line Drive and 184 vs. 101 Ground Ball), with a 270 overall Unadjusted Contact Score that is sharply higher than his 198 adjusted mark. Adjusted for context, Kurtz “should be” hitting .263-.351-.535 (144 “Tru”+) through games of August 8.

Now that’s still great for a player making his MLB debut, but it better encapsulates what Kurtz is at this stage of his career. He’s a power-before-hit guy – not the more desirable hit-before-power prototype – but his power is very, very real. His 253 Adjusted Fly Ball Contact Score is bested only by Aaron Judge’s 320 among the players covered in that AL MVP article, and is behind only Shohei Ohtani (396), Juan Soto (344), Kyle Schwarber (311) and James Wood (271) among those considered for the NL list. It’s closest to the Marlins’ Kyle Stowers (250) among current MLB sluggers.

Once you adjust for Kurtz’ negative defensive and baserunning contribution, he checks in with 7.6 “Tru” Player Runs Above Average – the 10th and last player on my AL MVP ballot as of July 31, had 10.3 TPRAA. If Kurtz had been in the bigs from the beginning, he might have made my ballot as of that date.

Kurtz actually might be most similar to former A’s 1B Matt Olson, who checked in on my recent NL MVP ballot in 9th place with 16.4 TPRAA. Adjusted for batted ball context, Olson has a 140 “Tru””+, just behind Kurtz, over a greater number of plate appearances, and has offered slightly more defensive/baserunning value.

So is Kurtz an MVP waiting to happen? I’m not going that far. This type of player can often reach their upside quite quickly and then plateau. But you know what? He’s likely going to win home run titles and be a consistent power source at least through his twenties. For the A’s to get where they’d like to go, they’ll probably need someone, perhaps de Vries, to supplant Kurtz as their most valuable all-around player, but he’d be a great second banana on a winning club.