Nicholas Jeffrey Kurtz (born March 12, 2003) is an American professional baseball first baseman in the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

organization.

Amateur career

Kurtz played for the USA 12U National Team and won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the 2015 World Cup. He attended Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He committed to Wake Forest University to play college baseball. As a freshman at Wake Forest in 2022, Kurtz was named a freshman All-American after hitting .338/.471/.637 with 15

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 56 runs batted in (RBI) over 204 at-bats in 54 games. As a sophomore in 2023, he hit .353/.527/.784 with 24 home runs and 69 RBI over 190 at-bats in 56 games.

Professional career

Kurtz entered his junior season in 2024 as a top prospect for the

2024 Major League Baseball draft The 2024 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 14–16, 2024, in Fort Worth, Texas. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first six selections were set via a lottery, with first round picks belonging to the remaini ...

. He was ultimately drafted fourth overall by the

. On July 22, 2024, Kurtz signed with the Athletics on an undersold contract worth $7 million.

References

External links

2003 births Living people Baseball players from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Baseball first basemen Baylor School alumni Midland RockHounds players Stockton Ports players Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball players {{US-baseball-first-baseman-stub