MESA, Ariz. — Aside from towering over most of his Athletics teammates at 6-foot-5, Nick Kurtz blends in at his locker in the middle of the clubhouse.
That’s just the way he prefers it. Even now — maybe especially now — with extra fanfare and attention on him this spring as the American League’s reigning rookie of the year.
Kurtz stuck with his usual offseason routine of returning home to North Carolina, where the 22-year-old likes to “chill,” play video games and watch movies when he’s not busy trying to get even better at baseball.
“First of all, I’m excited for year two. I kind of know what to expect and what it’s like to play in the big leagues,” Kurtz said Sunday before his first Cactus League exhibition game of spring training. “Am I embracing the spotlight? Not so much. I’m a guy who likes to be out there, but obviously there’s a lot more eyes, a lot more expectations, which I’m all about. I use that as: Our team, we have higher expectations of ourselves and what we think that we can do, so it’s a good thing.”
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay will consider Kurtz for the leadoff spot — where he was hitting Sunday and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in the team’s 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians — to maximize the slugger’s at-bats.
After such a special 2025, Kurtz continues to come to work and praise all of his teammates who helped him achieve the spectacular year he had, Kotsay said.
“The same way like he’s 13 years old, he’s never going to change,” Kotsay said at Hohokam Stadium. “It’s awesome to watch him in the clubhouse, on the back field, he comes in the same way, the same guy, just feels blessed to be here, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change for him.”
Kurtz is a 2021 graduate of Chattanooga’s Baylor School, where he was a standout in both baseball and basketball for the Red Raiders. After three years of college success at Wake Forest that included a trip to the 2023 College World Series during his sophomore season, he became the No. 4 pick of the 2024 Major League Baseball draft and was a on a fast track to the highest level of the sport.
Once he got there — Kurtz made his debut with the A’s on April 23, 2025 — there wasn’t much of a slowdown for the Pennsylvania native nicknamed “Big Amish” who mimics churning butter to celebrate home runs.
Kurtz batted .290 with 36 homers, 86 RBIs and a 1.002 on-base plus slugging percentage in 117 games, becoming just the eighth MLB rookie since 1901 to finish with an OPS over 1.000 while making at least 400 plate appearances. In July, he became the first rookie to hit four homers in a game, leading the A’s to a 15-3 victory over the Houston Astros.
So what’s it like watching him day to day?
“It’s extremely annoying, not fun, because I know whatever I do, I can never hit it opposite field that far, so I would say annoying,” joked locker mate Zack Gelof, a 26-year-old second baseman rehabbing from surgery last September on his left shoulder. “Not as fun.”
Kurtz is counting on the A’s carrying their momentum from late last year in a 76-86 season and having a faster start this time to become a contender again in the AL West Division. He loves the young core of this group — many of whom have been locked up on long-term contracts — and hopes to be part of turning the club into a winner ahead of its scheduled move to Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 campaign.
The A’s left Oakland after the 2024 season, their 57th in the Bay Area, but remained in California. Last year was their first of a temporary residency at West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, until their new stadium in Nevada is ready.
“My plan is to be here for as long as I can,” Kurtz said. “I’ll be here for the next six years, minimum, so it’s really exciting to know that when we go to Vegas, we have guys that we’ll be super familiar with and some of my best friends I’ve made for life, so it’s really fun.”
Many of those very faces were together on the Hawaiian island of Maui for left fielder Tyler Soderstrom’s wedding in November when MLB’s regular-season awards were announced, so they celebrated Kurtz’s first shining moment of what is expected to just be the start of great things to come in his career.
Still, it wasn’t anything outrageous by any means. That wouldn’t be Kurtz’s way.
“Not a whole lot, maybe a couple beers, just hanging out,” he said of how they toasted his rookie of the year award.
The left-handed hitter then spent the winter focused on making sure he did everything necessary to keep his body strong and healthy for a full year in the major leagues — one he hopes ends with a playoff berth this time. He started swinging a little later, in December, and increased his workload in the weight room, but noted: “I’m not a big changing guy. If it worked last year, let’s do it again this year.”
Center fielder Denzel Clarke, 25, who made his MLB debut last July, appreciates how the understated Kurtz handles his business. The first baseman offered a quick greeting to Guardians catcher David Fry when he stepped into the batter’s box in the first inning and grounded out to third on four pitches.
“I don’t know how under the radar you can be at 6-5, but he’s just a very calm, very chill guy who’s going to go about his day-to-day life,” Clarke said. “Nothing too crazy, nothing too flashy, he’s just going to be him.”
Kurtz impressed the A’s with his maturity from the moment he arrived for his MLB debut last spring. He will turn 23 on March 12, but he’s playing beyond his years and MLB experience.
“I think he learned it really quickly when he got to us, and he mentioned that,” Kotsay said. “He did go through a little bit of failure, but he found his routines and his processes pretty quickly and recognized you can’t get caught in the results, you just get caught in your process, and I think for a young player to realize that as quickly as he did, it showed in the success that he had.”