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Slugger Nick Kurtz is headed to the majors after only 45 games as a pro and will play his home games in a minor-league ballpark. That’s where the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics now call home in Sacramento.
“He’s ready now in my estimation,” a National League scout told me last month during an Athletics spring training game. “If he was with a team that was a contender, no, not yet. Too much risk/reward to start your season. Then, you say go grow in the minors, though I’m not sure other than complete pitch recognition there’s much to work on with the bat for him.
“But the A’s are building. They have some good young players on the big-league roster. Add Kurtz and let them all grow together. (Lawrence) Butler, (Jacob) Wilson, (Tyler) Soderstrom, (Max) Muncy and Kurtz are going to have growing pains. Let them go through it together and become a unit, a support group having fun when they do succeed.”
Kurtz has succeeded a lot already. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound rookie will be the third player from the 2024 MLB Draft to play in the majors. Kurtz, 22, was the fourth pick overall and got $7 million to sign after a stellar career at Wake Forest. Houston Astros third baseman Cam Smith, taken No. 14 by the Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Angels lefty pitcher Ryan Johnson, the last pick of the second round, 74th overall, opened the 2025 season on MLB rosters.
Kurtz plays first base. That’s where Soderstrom has taken over. The rookie likely will debut at designated hitter. That’s where Brent Rooker was primarily used the past two years when he totaled 69 homers. Rooker will play more outfield.
Kurtz clobbered college pitching. In 164 games over three years with the Demon Deacons, he hit .333 with 61 homers, 182 RBI and scored 206 runs. He even went 11-for-11 stealing bases. Not bad for a guy who began as a pitcher in high school.
Kurtz hit .321 with 7 homers and 24 RBI in 20 games at Triple-A Las Vegas this year. Including 13 games in the Arizona Fall League, 7 at Class A Stockton and 5 at Double-A Midland, he batted .341 (59-for-173) with 13 homers, 13 doubles, 43 runs and 48 RBI in 45 games since signing last July.
Pros And Cons
The Athletics had him ranked No. 2 on their draft board last summer and were delighted to get him two picks later. Cleveland chose Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Cincinnati selected Kurtz’s college teammate and right-handed starter Chase Burns and Georgia’s slugging infielder Charlie Condon went to Colorado ahead of him.
Many forecasters had Kurtz going to the Guardians at No. 1, comparing his game to Hall of Famer Jim Thome. Cleveland developed Thome as a third baseman and moved him to first as a he grew into the man who accumulated 612 MLB homers.
Some thought that teams shied away from Kurtz due to a shoulder injury that sidelined him early in 2024. Blasting 14 homers in a 10-game stretch last April should have erased any doubts. He ended up leading the nation in walks (78, compared to only 42 strikeouts) with 22 homers in 57 games.
Kurtz appears hulking yet has good agility around the first-base bag. He should develop into an above-average first baseman. He really does not fit at any other position, however.
Injuries have been a bit of a concern. He had a broken rib in 2023, the shoulder issue in early 2024 and his pro debut last summer was delayed due to a hamstring problem. Nothing major but something to be aware of in a young player.
There are scouts who say the move up is too soon and that Kurtz will abandon his fondness for drawing walks and start chasing pitches off the plate delivered by more experienced MLB pitchers.
Other Large Lefty Sluggers
Thome was a hit-first prospect with little power when drafted in the 13th round in 1989. He hit .373, .337 and .336 with single-digit homers at early stops on the minor-league trail until batting coach Charlie Manuel turned him into a long-ball legend.
Ryan Howard crushed the ball from the start as a Philadelphia Phillies prospect. He had 94 homers his first four years in the minors, 22 as thye 2005 NL Rookie of the Year, 58 as the 2006 NL MVP, and 48 when manager Manuel guided the Phillies to the 2008 World Series title.
Two recent big, slugging lefty first basemen had some incredible production with alarming strikeout totals before seemingly forgetting how to hit at all.
From 2012 through 2017, Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles averaged 37 homers, 93 RBI and 194 strikeouts with a .244 average a year. Over his final 249 games in 2018-20, he batted a cataclysmic .169 with 349 strikeouts and only 28 homers.
Joey Gallo crashed 145 homers in 555 games for the Texas Rangers, 2015 to mid-2021. He also had a whopping 797 strikeouts and .211 batting average. With four other clubs through last season, he was abysmal.
During that time with the Yankees, Dodgers, Twins and Nationals he hit a combined .165 with 495 strikeouts and 63 homers in 371 games.
Slugger Nick Kurtz In Future
Most scouts forecast a fine career as a slugger with decent bat contact and reasonably good batting average and run production. Some, perhaps with haunting pictures in their minds of big guys like Gallo, Davis and outfielder Adam Dunn flailing away, remain wary.
Still, those three bashers and others like them have had many exciting moments in the game. Dunn hit 38 or more homers in eight of nine seasons between 2004 and 2012. He also surpassed 100 walks seven times and annually had 175 or more strikeouts during his prime.
Slugger Nick Kurtz could match them in homers without the egregious strikeout totals. And that promises to bring a lot of fun to Athletics fans in Sacramento and their proposed future home in Las Vegas – where millions go with visions of cashing in with a big swing in hopes of winning big.
