Nick Kurtz Fantasy Stats

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz is back in the leadoff spot on Saturday against the visiting Houston Astros and right-hander Tatsuya Imai, according to MLB.com. It's the fifth time in the team's first seven games that Kurtz has hit leadoff. It's a curious lineup positioning for the left-handed slugger, who is an elite source of power for fantasy managers in his first full major-league season. It will also be interesting to see how long manager Mark Kotsay sticks with Kurtz in the top spot in the batting order if he continues to struggle at the plate early on in 2026. Through his first six games, Kurtz has gone 1-for-21 (.048) with no homers, no RBI, three runs scored, five walks, and 13 strikeouts in 26 plate appearances. Fantasy managers shouldn't be too concerned about Kurtz's slow start just yet. The former Wake Forest star was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2025, when he slashed an impressive .290/.383/.619 with a 1.002 OPS, 36 home runs, and 86 RBI in just 117 games played for the A's.

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz hit leadoff for the team in the first four games of the 2026 season, but with Atlanta Braves left-hander Jose Suarez on the mound on Tuesday, Kurtz will drop down to third in the batting order, per MLB.com. The power-hitting left-hander looked amazing in his MLB debut with the A's last year, hitting .290/.383/.619 with a 1.002 OPS, 36 home runs, 86 RBI, and 90 runs scored in 489 plate appearances over 117 games played. The former fourth overall pick out of Wake Forest in 2024 is off to a slot start in 2026, though, going 1-for-13 with three runs scored, a stolen base, four walks, and eight strikeouts in four games played. Kurtz really struggled against southpaws in his rookie season, going 27-for-137 (.197) against them with nine of his 36 homers and a .685 OPS. With Kurtz dropping to third in the lineup, shortstop Jacob Wilson will jump up to the leadoff spot against a lefty on Tuesday at Truist Park.

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz is batting leadoff for the A's on Opening Day on Friday on the road against the Toronto Blue Jays and right-hander Kevin Gausman, per MLB.com. Kurtz is already considered one of the best hitters on the team after debuting in 2025 and looking like a seasoned veteran with a .290/.383/.619 slash line, 1.002 OPS, 36 home runs, 86 RBI, and 90 runs scored in 489 plate appearances over 117 games played. The A's want to get Kurtz as many at-bats as possible per game, although he's likely to be down in the batting order when the team faces a left-handed pitcher. Kurtz hitting leadoff regularly will get him more at-bats for his fantasy managers, too, although it will take away plenty of RBI opportunities from the left-handed slugger. He's an elite power bat and entered 2026 as RotoBaller's top-ranked fantasy first baseman. The 23-year-old had one hit in two at-bats against Gausman last year.

The Athletics have made a long-term extension offer to American League Rookie of the Year first baseman Nick Kurtz, two sources told Joel Sherman of the New York Post. There's no word on whether the two sides will actually get something done this spring, but the team has done pre-arbitration extensions with outfielder Lawrence Butler, first baseman/outfielder Tyler Soderstrom, and shortstop Jacob Wilson. Going into his second MLB season, Kurtz is already the top-ranked fantasy first baseman at RotoBaller after hitting .290/.383/.619 with a 1.002 OPS, 36 home runs, 86 RBI, and 90 runs scored in 489 plate appearances in 117 games in 2025. The most impressive feat is the fact that he almost hit .300 despite striking out 30% of the time. Fantasy managers should expect regression with his average if he continues to whiff at that rate, but Kurtz's power upside from the left side is already elite, especially at one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the league.

After getting promoted to the big leagues in late April, Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz showed elite power potential on his way to winning the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year award. Across 489 MLB plate appearances, the 22-year-old posted a .290/.383/.619 slash line with 36 home runs, 86 RBI, 90 runs scored, and two stolen bases. Kurtz's underlying power metrics support his dominance, as he posted an 18.3% barrel rate and 50.9% hard-hit rate. If there's one area of concern for Kurtz, it's swing-and-miss. He struck out in 30.9% of his plate appearances as a rookie, which could indicate some batting average regression is coming for him in 2026. However, Kurtz profiles as a classic left-handed slugger who has a chance to be among the MLB leaders in home runs and RBI. He also gets the benefit of playing his 2026 home games in a minor-league ballpark in Sacramento with an Athletics lineup that finished sixth in the American League in runs scored in 2025. Kurtz should be one of the first few first basemen off the board in fantasy drafts over the next few months.

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz was named the American League Rookie of the Year for the 2025 season on Monday night. Kurtz had one of the best rookie seasons of any hitter in the history of baseball, so it's no surprise he won the award unanimously. The 6-foot-5, 240-pound lefty slugger debuted with the A's on April 23 and went on to hit an impressive .290/.383/.619 with 36 home runs in 119 games in 2025. The Wake Forest product led all MLB rookies in homers, RBI (86), runs scored (90), OPS (1.002), OPS+ (173), and wins above replacement (4.6 per FanGraphs, 5.4 per Baseball Reference). The 22-year-old was the third rookie in the modern era (since 1900) with an OPS+ of 170 or higher, joining Jose Abreu (2014) and Aaron Judge (2017). Kurtz's superior slugging was on display on July 25, when he went 6-for-6 with four homers and eight RBI in a single game. He becomes the ninth player in A's history to win the award.

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz continued his phenomenal rookie campaign in an 11-5 loss to the Houston Astros on Thursday. Kurtz went deep twice, giving him 35 home runs on the year, to highlight a 3-for-5, three-RBI day. While Kurtz has only collected 17 hits in 75 September at-bats (good for a .227 average), he has helped make up for it with eight long balls, 14 RBI, and 18 runs scored. After his latest superb performance, the AL Rookie of the Year shoo-in is slashing .293/.387/.623 with 84 RBI and 88 runs in 477 plate appearances. He's scheduled to face one of the league's other top rookies in Kansas City Royals left-hander Noah Cameron on Friday. Kurtz went 1-for-2 with a single against Cameron in their first meeting on June 15.

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz was quiet with the bat throughout most of Saturday's game against the Cincinnati Reds. Kurtz put the game out of reach with a 493-foot grand slam off right-hander Scott Barlow in the eighth inning. It was his only hit of the day as he went 1-for-5 with that blast being his lone contribution on offense. It was his second career grand slam and certainly an epic one as it went nearly 500 feet. The rookie slugger is currently the front runner for Rookie of the Year. He's slashing .298/.391/.622 with 31 home runs and 78 RBI in 104 games.

Athletics rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz (oblique) is starting at first base and batting leadoff for Tuesday's game at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals and right-hander Miles Mikolas. Fantasy managers will want to get the left-handed slugger back in their starting lineups everywhere after Kurtz missed three games with discomfort in his oblique. Thankfully, he was able to avoid the injured list. While the 22-year-old rookie already has high-end power in his first year in the big leagues, he is in a bit of a slump recently, going 4-for-20 with a homer, five runs scored and nine strikeouts in nine games before hurting his oblique. But despite the recent cold stretch at the plate, Kurtz is still hitting .308 (103-for-334) with 27 home runs, 70 RBI and 70 runs scored in his first 94 games in the big leagues. He's the real deal.

Athletics rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz remains sidelined for Monday's series opener on the road at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals. Tyler Soderstrom will make another start at first base and will bat cleanup against Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray. Kurtz will be missing his third straight start on Monday due to an oblique injury, but the good news for fantasy managers is that an MRI exam on Saturday came back clean. It doesn't mean that Kurtz won't be forced to the injured list eventually, but you can consider him day-to-day for now. Check back to see if he's available for Game 2 of the series in St. Louis on Tuesday. The former fourth overall pick in 2024 out of Wake Forest is the real deal from a power standpoint. In his first 94 games with the A's this year, he's hit .308/.402/.632 with a 1.033 OPS, 27 homers and 70 RBI.