A’s slugger likely to hit injured list, manager says. All-Star Game ‘in jeopardy’
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- A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz will likely land on injured list with a right thumb injury.
- Kurtz’s injury would likely mean he will miss the All-Star Game and his start.
- Kurtz’s thumb is among multiple A’s injuries as the team sits 5 1/2 games out of playoffs.
The Athletics’ injury luck may have just gotten even worse, as improbable as that may seem.
All-Star first baseman Nick Kurtz, the unanimous 2025 American League Rookie of the Year who had played his way into MVP talks this season, is likely to land on the injured list with a right thumb capsule strain, A’s manager Mark Kotsay said ahead of Friday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.
With the All-Star Game less than a week away, the injury and possible IL stint would likely mean Kurtz will miss the contest altogether and not make his scheduled start for the American League.
Should Kurtz still start the game alongside catcher Shea Langeliers, who won the fan-elected spot, the two would become the first pair of A’s stars to start the All-Star Game the same year since Dave Henderson and Rickey Henderson in 1991.
“It’s definitely in jeopardy,” Kotsay said of Kurtz’s All-Star Game chances.
Who will step up in Kurtz’s place?
Kurtz earned the American League’s starting first base spot after an elected starter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, opted out of the game to rest his injured back. Kurtz got the starting nod after earning the most votes in a players’ ballot to decide the game’s reserves. The All-Star selection was also the first of the 23-year-old’s career.
Kotsay told MLB.com that Kurtz had been playing through the thumb injury for multiple days. He also left Wednesday’s game early with what Kotsay called a stomach bug.
The lingering injury coupled with the illness could have contributed to the star slugger’s recent slump that saw him go hitless in 20 consecutive at-bats, including 11 strikeouts, over about the last week.
Despite a recent cold stretch, Kurtz’s hitting numbers on the season still rank among the best in the league, leading the American League in walks with 76, holding a stellar .902 on-base plus slugging percentage, mashing 20 home runs and 15 doubles in 92 games this season.
Kotsay said that lefty-masher Joey Meneses, who was called up earlier Friday, and backup catcher Jonah Heim will play first base for the A’s while Kurtz is out.
Meneses struggled in seven MLB games in a brief stint from late June to early July, but holds an OPS over .900 with 12 home runs and 21 doubles through 71 games this season in Triple-A. He was set to start at first and hit sixth for the A’s on Friday.
‘No one’s feeling sorry for us’
Kurtz’s thumb capsule strain is the latest in a series of injuries that have plagued the A’s over about the last month. In fact, the star first baseman had been one of the team’s only players to largely avoid the injury bug, appearing in all but one of the A’s 93 games heading into Friday.
After the club got 2025 All-Star Jacob Wilson, slugging outfielder Tyler Soderstrom and utility man Zack Gelof back from injury over the last week, Gelof landed back on the IL with a knee laceration and Kotsay announced Kurtz’s injury, both on Friday.
Two-time All-Star designated hitter Brent Rooker is out for the season with a knee injury, while starter Luis Severino, outfielder Denzel Clarke and reliever Mark Leiter Jr. are in various stages of their own injury recoveries.
Though the injuries have piled up and may have contributed to a recent losing skid, Kotsay said the team needs to bear down should it want to make a run at the playoffs.
The A’s entering Friday night’s game vs. the White Sox in Chicago had been swept in two straight series, losing six in a row, to fall to 41-52. They went into the Chicago series six games out of the AL West lead and 5 1/2 out of the last AL Wild Card spot.
“No one’s feeling sorry for us,” Kotsay said. “We’ve got to come together here.”
