Elephant Rumblings: Kurtz surge prompts ROY speculation

MLB news roundup

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

Nick Kurtz is on a tear.

Martin Gallegos at MLB.com noted yesterday that the 22-year-old slugger showed especially good progress in Wednesday night’s loss to the Astros. Kurtz has not hit lefties well so far as a major leaguer, but two of his three hits came off tough lefty Framber Valdez.

Kurtz’s third knock of the night left the park, his eighth home run of the season. That tied teammate Jacob Wilson for second most homers among rookies this year. It even prompted Gallegos to pronounce “Kurtz closes ground in ROY race.” The implication of that is that the A’s rookie first baseman might have a shot at overtaking the A’s rookie shortstop for the AL trophy. With another huge walk-off home run off Josh Hader last night, Kurtz has no doubt mashed his way into the ROY conversation.

But Wilson’s rookie campaign has been consistently phenomenal since Opening Day: he’s second in all of baseball behind the mighty Aaron Judge in batting average; the two are tied for the most hits with 101 apiece. Coming into yesterday, Wilson led all A’s hitters with a 156 wRC+, and is one of the ten best players in baseball per his fWAR of 3.3. With Kurtz’s fWAR at 0.4, he still has a galaxy to cross just to get J Willy—who also homered last night to keep the duo tied at nine—on his radar.

Will Kurtz end up with more homers than Wilson in 2025? Probably. Is it conceivable that Kurtz could catch fire for the rest of the season and end up winning ROY? Absolutely. Is it likely? Given Wilson’s head start of 150 plate appearances or so, coupled with his defensive value at shortstop, no it is not. Gallegos himself states that “it will be tough to track down Wilson.”

Nick Kurtz is flashing his phenomenal potential right now, and I hope he will be in the A’s MVP race with Wilson perennially for years to come. But “closing ground” seems a bit overstated at this point—Jacob will run away with ROY honors if he plays out the season at his current pace. There’s a reason—nay, 101 reasons—Wilson got 33 of 35 first place votes in the latest MLB ROY poll.

Still, Gallegos’ piece is stuffed full of reasons to marvel at how Kurtz is coming into his own at the plate so quickly, so it’s worth checking out.

Have a wonderful weekend, AN.

A’s Coverage:

• Athletics defeat Astros 6-4 with a Kurtz walk-off Homer
• How To Improve The A’s On The Field Immediately
• A’s roster moves: Maldonado recalled, Bido optioned
• ‘A monster out there,’ Kurtz closes ground in ROY race
• A’s Defense Still a Concern

MLB News & Interest:

• MLB All-Quarter Century Team: Breaking down the 40-man roster — plus special selections ($)
• Biggest misses from the 2015 MLB Draft — Dillon Tate, Tyler Jay among those who didn’t click ($)
• Latest mock draft: Projecting Round 1 from the Draft Combine
• What should you do when ICE comes to the ballpark? Bay Area teams are already preparing ($)
• Giants Notes: Devers, Eldridge, Payroll
• Braves To Select Didier Fuentes
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Roster moves.

Give him the Platinum Glove already.