Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz learned he’d been named the American League’s Rookie of the Year in an ideal location Tuesday—far from Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, where he built his star in 2025.
“I was in Hawaii celebrating a teammate getting married, so me and (shortstop) Jacob Wilson, actually, were in the same hotel room as it was kind of going on,” Kurtz told SI Thursday afternoon in an interview promoting the Friday release of the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. “The parents were watching the broadcast. The girlfriend, all those family members, got texts from them. Called them right away.”
Winning the award unanimously—with Wilson, his teammate, coming in third—provided a fitting coda to one of the most dominant rookie seasons of the last decade. Kurtz slashed .290/.383/.619 with 36 home runs, 86 RBIs, and an impressive 5.4 bWAR in just 117 games. His efforts earned him a Silver Slugger in addition to becoming his franchise’s first Rookie of the Year since pitcher Andrew Bailey in 2009.
Appropriately, a list of his influences teem with former Rookies of the Year. Three of the four players Kurtz cited as inspirations won the award.
“When I was a kid, it was Ryan Howard. I’m from the Central (Pennsylvania) area, so we grew up Phillies fans,” Kurtz said. “When I got a little older in high school I loved watching Bryce Harper… Jim Thome is another guy who I didn’t really get to watch live, but I’ve seen plenty of video of his swing. Another comparison—Yordan Alvarez, a newer guy, in college I tried to model my swing off of him.”
Kurtz’s scholarship has made him a face of an up-and-coming Athletics team filled with young talent, as right fielder Lawrence Butler, first baseman and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom, and Wilson all produced for the Sacramento-based team in ’25.
Their sense of competition and camaraderie, however, is not limited to the diamond.
“Lawrence Butler I’ll play a lot (of Call of Duty with),” Kurtz said. “(Infielder) Max Schuemann is another guy. Jacob (Wilson) is more of a Fortnite guy.”
