Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz has been named the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. His teammate Jacob Wilson finished second and Roman Anthony of the Red Sox finished third in the voting. Kurtz, who was the unanimous choice for the award, will be retroactively awarded a full year of service time by finishing in the top two of the voting. The full voting results can be found here.
Kurtz was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft and came into 2025 as one of the top prospects in the league. He didn’t break camp with the club but was called up on April 23rd. Almost immediately, he started showing his talent for crushing the ball. Due to his late call-up and a brief injured list stint for a strained left hip flexor, he only got into 117 games, but that was still enough time for him to put the ball over the fence 36 times.
It wasn’t a perfect season, as Kurtz struck out at a high 30.9% rate. However, his 12.9% walk rate was quite strong. When combined with his aforementioned power, it was a very productive season. His .290/.383/.619 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 170. Among hitters with at least 20 plate appearances this year, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani topped that wRC+ number.
It’s impressive that Kurtz did so much despite not even playing a full season. His late call-up also has notable implications for him and the club. The most recent collective bargaining agreement included measures to discourage service time manipulation. If a team promotes a top prospect early enough in a season for him to earn a full service year, the team can earn an extra draft pick if the player meets certain awards voting criteria, via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. On the flip side, if a player is not promoted early enough for a full service year and then goes on to finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting in his league, then he is retroactively credited with a full service year.
Kurtz came into the year as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball, meaning he would have been PPI-eligible this year if the A’s had called him up earlier. He only got 159 days of service, 13 shy of the 172 needed for a full season. If he were PPI-eligible, this award win would have netted them an extra draft pick in 2026. Since they did not call him up early enough and Kurtz finished in the top two of the voting, he will get a full year of service anyway. That reduces the club’s window of control over Kurtz from six years to five, meaning he’s now on pace to reach free agency after 2030 instead of 2031.
Wilson is Kurtz’s teammate but the two are polar opposites when it comes to their offensive profiles. While Kurtz strikes out a lot but also draws walks and has huge power, Wilson has modest power and rarely walks but almost never strikes out. His 7.5% strikeout rate this year was the second-lowest among qualified hitters, trailing only Luis Arráez. Wilson only hit 13 home runs and drew a walk in just 5.2% of his plate appearances, but he still managed to hit .311/.355/.444 for a 121 wRC+ while playing the premium position of shortstop, even if his defense wasn’t highly rated.
The shortstop actually got promoted in July of 2024 but he landed on the injured list and missed enough time to still have rookie status coming into 2025. Despite having rookie status, he would not have earned the A’s a PPI pick even if he had finished first in the voting. Players are ineligible for the PPI bonus if they have at least 60 days of service time. Wilson earned 73 days of service in 2024, much of it on the injured list, meaning he was in a weird twilight zone of being rookie eligible but not PPI eligible.
Anthony came into the year not only as a top 100 prospect but most rankings had him first or second in the league. However, the Red Sox had a crowded outfield mix that was difficult for him to break into. Eventually, injuries opened a path and he finally got the call in June. By August, he had impressed the Sox enough that they signed him to an eight-year, $130MM extension.
Though he only got into 71 games, Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 for a 140 wRC+ and stole four bases. He was credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average. FanGraphs credited him with 2.7 wins above replacement in less than half a season. He would have pushed those numbers even further if not for an oblique injury sending him to the IL in early September.
Anthony only got 112 service days this year. He would have earned a full year if he had cracked second place in the voting, though that is largely a moot point with his extension. However, the result does impact him financially when looking at the details of his pact. The deal contains a number of escalators which Anthony can unlock via awards voting. Some extra money could have been tacked on with a top two finish but this third-place finish isn’t enough for him to add anything to the $130MM total. He can still push that up in the future by getting MVP votes.
Several other players received some recognition from the voters. Noah Cameron of the Royals finished fourth in the voting, followed by Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Carlos Narváez of the Red Sox, Jack Leiter of the Rangers, Will Warren of the Yankees, Luke Keaschall of the Twins, Braydon Fisher of the Blue Jays, Shane Smith of the White Sox, Cam Smith of the Astros, Chandler Simpson of the Rays, Luis Morales of the A’s and Jasson Domínguez of the Yankees.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Daniel Kucin Jr., David Richard, Imagn Images
the horror…
the horror…
(well deserved!!!)
Kurtz joins Aaron Judge (2017) and Albert Pujols (2001) as the only rookies in MLB history to hit at least 35 home runs, score at least 90 runs, and record an OPS of at least 1.000.
Lancaster county represent 🙌
I know this is off-topic, but I’m curious. What do you miss about the 80s?
Lots of things…but mostly being under 20 years old
Imiss – The 80’s was just a really fun decade, and friendlier. No spreading hate on social media, music was original and about good times not violence, movies were also fresh not remakes of older ones, people actually socialized by spending time with each other and talking with each other instead of burying their face in smartphones.
Ever see Hot Tub Time Machine? I would love to be in that movie.
The only bad thing about the 80’s was 18% for 30-year fixed rate mortgages, ouch!
There’s a lot to miss about a world without an ubiquitous internet.
sadler – I blame it all on Tipper’s husband.
I miss the higher morals, lower crime, purer amatuer sports and political parties who were civil to each other. Also Teagan.
Trapper Keepers
Broke out of nowhere and never looked back. This guy will terrorize pitchers to come in the future.
He was the 4th overall pick. Not sure it was out of nowhere.
I guess I don’t pay attention to the draft that much…
I’m surprised Noah Cameron of the Royals didn’t finish 3rd.
So many good rookies this year in AL, Kurtz, Wilson, Anthony, Cameron, Barger, Meidroth, Quero, Teel, Simpson, Manzardo, Perkins and Martin, plus many others.
Number 1# 1st basemen in baseball? Definitely an argument for Nick Kurtz.
Offensively maybe but looks like he tied all 1b in errors in only 117 games..so that side of his game needs work before considered as the best 1b in all mlb …since you state the position defense must count.
Kurtz = Mark McGuire 2.0 minus the roids
Kurtz and Rooker are the closest to being the As new Bash Bros.
Who is Mark McGuire?
Zach – I think he’s Reese McGuire’s crazy uncle, in fact so crazy that he often misspelled his own last name with a W!
Congrats on a great season but really wish they’d simplify the whole PPI process and simply give the team an extra pick if they win ROY, no questions asked. It actually hurts teams at this point because if they want the pick, they have to rush them to the majors and change their development path just to get an incentive. Not everyone hits the ground running and part of a player’s success could be because they start hot in the minors. Just like Skenes, team is robbed of an affordable year of a great player.
I respectfully disagree. I actually like the idea of teams having to decide if their prospects is ready to start the season… The draft pick is the reward for bringing them up soon and giving them the chance… The “full year service clause” is the punishment for trying to manipulate the service time of a player.
I might be one of the few advocates for the process.
The problem is if the player plays in one game in 2025 and wins ROY in 2026, no draft pick. If the player plays 140 games in 2025 and wins ROY, no draft pick. Kurtz produced well above most players with 162 games. I agree with holecamels35.
@shark not true. A player needs to accrue less than 60 days of service time and stay below the minimum threshold of ABS or innings pitched this season prior. Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers are still eligible for the PPI next season despite getting a major league look this year
Ah, ok. So Wilson had 28 games played and was ineligible. This must have been because 28 games was more than 60 days. Either way, the PPI and full year should both be awarded in my opinion. Player and team both get rewarded.
Playing one game in 2025 would not disqualify a player from earning their team a draft pick if they won rookie of the year in 2026. They’re still PPI eligible so long as they haven’t previously exceeded 45 days on an active roster, or 60 days of total service including time on the IL.
And like the story explains, Wilson exceeded 60 days in 2024 because of IL time. He debuted July 19, immediately went on the IL with a hamstring strain and did not return until Aug. 27.
That defeats the entire purpose of the PPI. Teams were holding players back so that they’d not get an extra year of playing time. The PPI is supposed to encourage them to not manipulate service time. Giving everyone a pick if the player wins is 100% the opposite of what the pick exists for lol
His stat line reads like the next Pete Incaviglia
Not even close. Kurtz did in less than one year more than half of what Pete did in his entire 13-year career.
.310 career OBP.
This was a very strong rookie class. I would probably have voted Kurtz first, Cameron, and then Anthony, with Wilson fourth.
Probably first? c’mon he was a no brainer for first ballot ROY
How many ballots do they get for roy?..
Pirates got burned last yr
This time A’s
Ppi rules need to be changed, this is counterproductive & totally ridiculous
Not surprised, thats what mlb is today, total s### show
Unanimous vote as it should be. Going to hate seeing that guy beat up on the Angels for the next 3 years before the A’s trade him.
You expect them to trade him while early in Vegas depending if that stadium gets built. Good way to push away new fans
Based on what they’ve been doing since 2006, “new fans” for the A’s is at the absolute bottom of their priorities.
I kind of thought the same except I want him to beat up the Angels just not the Ms. I don’t think they will be trading this core of good players they have. They will want a strong team their first year in Portland or Nashville.
Have they even started construction on the Vegas facility? Will they eventually end up there? I don’t follow it close because I am not sure it will happen. Plus I don’t care all that much.
The “new” A’s have shown a tendency to wrap up a few position player stars. I think they will find a way to keep Kurtz while still spending far less than the median.
Were his numbers inflated by playing home games in Sacramento or does this kid have what it takes to maintain this production for his career?
Good question. He definitely hit better at Sutter Health, the HR numbers are skewed significantly to home, but he still had a .967 OPS on the road.
What Jean said. Kurtz is a super stud, but yes, even better at Sutter Health Field.
The question is can he hit 5 HRs in a game now.
Since A’s are moving to LV eventually, they will likely keep him longer than in past situations and make him the center focus in lights in LV
You’re sort of underestimating the cheapness of John Fisher here…
Fisher likes money, agreed, but fisher knows that Kurtz will increase ticket sales in a new city that likes to see star status players
Fisher will likely pay to keep Kurtz even if he has four converted middle relievers and AAA guys in the starting rotation.