Nick Kurtz to start in All-Star Game for A’s after fan-elected star drops out
Athletics star slugger Nick Kurtz will start the All-Star Game after all.
Widely considered a snub in the fan-voting process that typically decides the All-Star starters, Kurtz earned the most votes among American League first basemen in the players ballot, earning him the start when fan-elected starter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turned down the invite.
Guerrero, a six-time All-Star with the Toronto Blue Jays, told reporters Saturday that he will head home to rest his injured lower back instead of competing in the game.
Kurtz will join teammate Shea Langeliers, who won his fan election to start at catcher for the American League with 65% of the vote in Phase 2 against Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays.
It is the first All-Star Game appearance for both A’s stars, and the first time the team has two All-Star Game starters since Rickey Henderson and Dave Henderson in 1991.
It is also the second straight year the A’s have had two All-Stars and a fan-elected starter after Jacob Wilson started last year’s game at shortstop and Brent Rooker was selected as a reserve designated hitter.
Before Wilson’s selection last season, the A’s hadn’t had a fan-elected starter since Josh Donaldson in 2014.
Nick Kurtz calls hometown opportunity ‘pretty special’
Kurtz, the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year last year, has continued his impressive start to the year in 2026 with a .949 on-base plus slugging percentage, the third-best in Major League and second-best in the AL entering the weekend.
The 23-year-old leads the majors in walks with 76 and leads all AL first basemen in on-base percentage (.424), RBIs (66) and runs scored (61). Kurtz also has 20 home runs and 15 doubles in 87 games this season.
Though his stellar sophomore season has put him firmly in the MVP race, Kurtz didn’t advance to Phase 2 of the All-Star fan voting, with New York Yankees slugger Ben Rice and Guerrero earning the two spots, in part, thanks to large voting turnout from their respective fan bases.
The All-Star Game being held in Philadelphia, only about 70 miles from Kurtz’s hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, made the selection even more special for the 23-year-old.
“It’d be really cool to have the first All-Star appearance be in Philly,” Kurtz told The Sacramento Bee in June. “It would be pretty special, be a full-circle moment for me.”
