Oakland's Nick Kurtz Wins Unanimous AL Rookie Award

Oakland Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz was named the unanimous winner of the American League Rookie of the Year award on Monday night, earning all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America. The 22-year-old slugger, who played 117 games after a mid-April call-up, led all rookies with 36 home runs, 86 runs batted in and a 1.002 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, helping to highlight a promising young core for the Athletics.

Kurtz, selected fourth overall in the 2024 amateur draft out of Wake Forest University, began the 2025 season in the minors before joining the Athletics on April 23. In his debut against the Texas Rangers, he recorded an RBI single in his first major league at-bat. He quickly adapted to big-league pitching, hitting his first home run on May 13 against Los Angeles Dodgers reliever J.P. Feyereisen. By mid-May, Kurtz had belted four homers in four days, including a multihomer game against the Angels on May 21.

His most memorable performance came on July 25 in Houston, where he became the youngest player in major league history and the first rookie to hit four home runs in a single game. Kurtz went 6-for-6 with eight RBIs, matching...