Nick Kurtz Is Quickly Becoming One of MLB’s Best Sluggers

Early on this season, the Athletics found themselves in the heart of discussions surrounding this year’s American League Rookie of the Year Award. Shortstop Jacob Wilson had been one of the best hitters in the sport this season, using his elite contact-first playstyle to guide him to success. After all, he was the American League’s starting shortstop in the All-Star Game, highlighting his impressive play.

However, on April 23, the A’s promoted their top prospect, Nick Kurtz, after he had been off to a scorching-hot start to his season. This came not even one full year after Kurtz was drafted, as the left-handed power hitter flew through the minor leagues.

After this promotion, the Rookie of the Year talks remained with the Athletics, except the focus had shifted: Kurtz is now the heavy frontrunner for the award, as the beginning of his career has been nothing short of historic.

Kurtz’s rise to the top of the sport has happened incredibly quickly. He went from one of the game’s best draft picks to a top prospect, then he became one of the best first basemen in the sport in just over a year. This rise is quite uncommon, and it’s been very impressive to see.

What has made Kurtz so dominant? Let’s take a closer look at Kurtz’s amazing start and see what’s led to his success.

Stats were taken prior to play on August 24.

Breaking Down Kurtz’s Numbers

Kurtz’s production at the plate this season has been nothing short of elite.

Since his promotion to the big leagues back in April, Kurtz has appeared in 89 games, where he’s flat-out raked. He’s slugged 26 homers, driven in 68 runs, slashed .308/.400/.636 while also posting a 178 wRC+ in this span. Kurtz has also recorded 4.0 fWAR, a truly unbelievable pace.

Kurtz has been elite in every sense of his offensive game, but this is especially clear when it comes to his batted-ball data. Kurtz ranks in the 92nd percentile or better in hard-hit rate, average exit velocity, and barrel rate. This type of offensive profile is already rare enough, but it becomes even more impressive when you remember Kurtz is in his rookie season.

Kurtz’s results have been incredible as well. He’s ranked inside the 95th percentile or better in xwOBA, xSLG, and launch angle sweet-spot rate. Not only this, but his bat speed ranks among the top two percent of hitters in the sport.

The only area where Kurtz has seemed to struggle a little bit is when it comes to his whiffs and strikeout numbers. He’s posted a strikeout rate near 30% in addition to a whiff rate over 32%. Despite this, he’s done a decent job at recording walks, posting a walk rate inside the top six percent of hitters.

When looking at the data, Kurtz fits the mold of a three true outcome player very closely. He strikes out quite often, walks at an elite clip, and he’s also hit 26 homers in just 89 games, covering all the bases needed to fit this mold.

While he does fit the three true outcome mold, Kurtz slugs plenty of extra-base hits that aren’t homers. He’s hit 23 doubles and two triples in his first 89 games, which just goes to show how elite his power is, even if it doesn’t always come on 400-foot home runs.

Overall, Kurtz’s numbers show us that he’s become one of the game’s best hitters, no matter how you look at his game. He’s elite in nearly every facet of the game, and it’s even more impressive considering he’s just 22 years old.

For a player to become this elite, this fast is unbelievable. Kurtz has quickly established himself as one of the most advanced bats in the league, showing a rare blend of patience, power, and consistency that makes him look far more polished than his age would suggest.

Where Kurtz Ranks Offensively

Now that we’ve taken a closer look at the elite production Kurtz has shown offensively, we can take an even closer look at how his production compares to the game’s other top hitters. Since his promotion, very few hitters have been in the same ballpark as Kurtz offensively.

Since his promotion back on April 23, Kurtz’s 4.0 fWAR ranks 10th in the sport. Many of the players above Kurtz are considered perennial MVP contenders, such as Shohei Ohtani, Cal Raleigh, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., among others.

Kurtz’s fWAR ranks above some pretty impressive names as well. His fWAR is ahead of stars such as Gunnar Henderson, Ketel Marte, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto, and more. To see Kurtz named alongside these players is impressive, especially given that he ranks above them.

Of the nine players ahead of him in fWAR, Kurtz’s 178 wRC+ ranks second to Aaron Judge by just six points, putting him above nearly all of the league’s best hitters. Only three of the nine hitters above Kurtz in fWAR have hit more homers in this span as well.

Among all hitters since Kurtz debuted on April 23, he ranks fifth in batting average, third in on-base percentage and slugging, and second in BABIP. Kurtz is also second in MLB in wOBA only to Aaron Judge since his debut.

As you can see, it’s tough to find a metric where Kurtz doesn’t rank near the top of the sport. When looking at this leaderboard, I keep wondering how good his numbers would look over a full season. After all, his 162-game pace for fWAR would be near 7.4.

Not only is Kurtz among the top of all offensive leaderboards, but he’s also in elite company historically as well. Only five hitters have an OPS of at least 1.000 and 25 or more homers in their rookie season since integration, and Nick Kurtz is one of these hitters.

In addition to the rookie history Kurtz has achieved, he also became one of 20 players to ever record a four-homer game. Of these 20 players, only two have done this feat while going 6-6: Nick Kurtz and Shawn Green.

Simply put, he’s in elite company, and he’s having one of the best rookie seasons we have ever seen.

Is Nick Kurtz the Game’s Best First Baseman?

After diving into just how good Kurtz has been this season, it’s fair to wonder if he’s already the best first baseman in the sport. Truth is, there’s a really solid argument to be made for this.

Since he made his debut, Kurtz has led all first basemen in homers, walk rate, ISO, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, wOBA, wRC+, and fWAR. He’s done all of this while posting elite batted-ball metrics and slugging 51 extra-base hits.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Freddie Freeman, Bryce Harper, Matt Olson, Pete Alonso, among others, all rank below Kurtz in the majority of offensive numbers. When it comes to the debate for the crown of the best first baseman in the sport, these are some of the names you’ll most commonly hear.

Although Kurtz doesn’t quite have the long-term success on his resume that some of these other hitters have, the production he’s shown in his first 88 games cannot be ignored. With no other first baseman rivaling his numbers, Kurtz may have a legitimate claim to this title.

Nick Kurtz’s rise to even being considered for this title is one straight out of a video game. From playing at Wake Forest to potentially being the best first baseman in the sport in around a year, this rise has truly been historic.

It’ll be interesting to see what the first base leaderboards look like at the end of the season. Right now, though, it’s looking like Kurtz has a claim as the best first baseman in the sport.