A’s young star earns Rookie of the Month for June after teammate’s May award
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- Nick Kurtz earned Rookie of the Month after hitting seven June home runs post-injury.
- Kurtz and Jacob Wilson marked back-to-back Rookie of the Month wins for the A’s.
- Wilson leads MLB rookies in RBIs and batting average; Kurtz leads in slugging.
A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz followed his teammate and All-Star starter Jacob Wilson’s lead by taking home the team’s second consecutive American League Rookie of the Month award for his stellar, clutch-ridden June performance.
Kurtz, who made his debut with an RBI single in his first MLB at-bat on April 23, became the 12th Athletics player to win the award.
After his win followed Wilson’s in May, it became the third time Athletics rookies have won back-to-back Rookie of the Month awards, following pitches Andrew Bailey and Brett Anderson in 2009 and Joe Blanton, who won it two straight months in 2005.
Kurtz had a late start to his month after sustaining a hip flexor strain in late May, but ever since the first pitch he saw on June 9, he has been on a tear.
During June, Kurtz slashed .264/.329/.597 and added seven home runs for 12 total on the season, second-most among MLB rookies.
Clutch Kurtz
A stretch soon after his return in which he hit five home runs in six games, two of which were walk-off dingers, catapulted Kurtz to the A’s cleanup spot and earned him a reputation for big moments.
After his heroics, Kurtz became the youngest player to hit two walk-off home runs in the same series, per the Elias Sports Bureau, and is only the second player at 22 or younger to hit two walk-off shots in the same month. The other was Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.
“For some reason, seventh inning on, I feel more comfortable in the box,” Kurtz said in June, according to MLB.com. “Maybe it’s just, after seeing a bunch of pitches that day, I start to feel really good. That’s just kind of the way it’s going right now, so I’m just trying to keep it going.”
On top of his dominant stretch, the former No. 1 A’s prospect has continued to contribute, currently holding an .800 OPS and 32 RBIs after 49 games in the majors.
Kurtz also leads all qualified rookies with a monstrous .489 slugging percentage.
Following in Wilson’s footsteps
Kurtz is not the only standout rookie for the rebuilding team that has already debuted multiple rising stars this season.
Players like lights-out reliever Jack Perkins and Denzel Clarke — who’s earned the nickname “Spider-Man” for highlight-reel, wall-scaling catches — have made big impacts just months after their MLB debuts, but none have eclipsed Wilson, who is the frontrunner and odds favorite for AL Rookie of the Year.
Wilson, who will be the first A’s player to be a fan-elected starter in the All-Star Game since third baseman Josh Donaldson in 2014, is second this season in MLB with 108 hits and a .339 batting average.
Wilson leads all qualified rookies in RBIs (40), runs (42) and on base plus slugging (.853), but is trailing his teammate Kurtz in home runs and slugging percentage.
