Slugging 1B Nick Kurtz looks to build on AL Rookie of the Year award in second season with Athletics

MESA, Ariz. — Aside from towering over most of his Athletics teammates at 6-foot-5, Nick Kurtz blends in at his locker in the middle of the clubhouse — and that's just the way he prefers it.

Even now with the extra fanfare and attention on him this spring training as reigning AL Rookie of the Year at just 22. Kurtz stuck with his usual offseason routine of returning home to North Carolina, where he likes to ''chill," play video games and watch movies when he's not busy training.

''First of all, I'm excited for Year 2, I kind of know what to expect and what it's like to play in the big leagues,'' Kurtz said Sunday before his first Cactus League game, against Cleveland. ''Am I embracing the spotlight? Not so much, I'm a guy who likes to be out there, but obviously there's a lot more eyes, a lot more expectations, which I'm all about. I use that as our team, we have higher expectations of ourselves and what we think that we can do, so it's a good thing.''

A's manager Mark Kotsay will consider Kurtz for the leadoff spot — where he was hitting Sunday — to maximize the slugger's at-bats.

After such a special 2025, Kurtz continues to come to work and praise all of his teammates who helped him achieve the spectacular year he had, Kotsay said.

''The same way like he's 13 years old, he's never going to change,'' he said at Hohokam Stadium. ''It's awesome to watch him in the clubhouse, on the back field, he comes in the same way, the same guy, just feels blessed to be here, and I don't think that's ever going to change for him.''

Kurtz batted .290 with 36 home runs, 86 RBIs and a 1.002 OPS in 117 games and became the eighth rookie since 1901 to finish with an OPS over 1.000 while making at least 400 plate appearances. In July, he became the first major league rookie to to hit four homers in a game, leading the Athletics to a 15-3 victory over the Houston Astros.

''It's extremely annoying, not fun, because I know whatever I do I can never hit it opposite field that far, so I would say annoying,'' joked locker mate Zack Gelof, a second baseman rehabbing to return from surgery last September on his left shoulder. ''Not as fun.''

The 22-year-old Kurtz is counting on the A's carrying their momentum from late last year in a 76-86 finish and having a faster start this season to become a contender again in the AL West. He loves the young core of this group — many of whom have been locked up on long-term contracts — and hopes to be part of turning the club into a winner ahead of its scheduled move to Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 campaign.

''My plan is to be here for as long as I can," Kurtz said. ''I'll be here for the next six years, minimum, so it's really exciting to know that when we go to Vegas we have guys that we'll be super familiar with and some of my best friends I've made for life, so it's really fun.''

Many of those very faces were all together on the island of Maui in Hawaii for left fielder Tyler Soderstrom's wedding in November when the AL Rookie of the Year award was announced, so they celebrated Kurtz's first shining moment of what is expected to just be the start of great things to come in his career.

Still, it wasn't anything outrageous by any means. That wouldn't be Kurtz's way.

The left-handed hitter then spent the winter focused on making sure he did everything necessary to keep his body strong and healthy for another full year in the major leagues — one he hopes ends with a playoff berth this time. He started swinging a little later, in December, and increased his workload in the weight room, but noted, ''I'm not a big changing guy, if it worked last year let's do it again this year.''

Center fielder Denzel Clarke appreciates how the understated Kurtz handles his business. The first baseman offered a quick greeting to Guardians catcher David Fry when he stepped into the batter's box in the first inning and grounded out to third on four pitches.

''I don't know how under the radar you can be at 6-5, but he's just a very calm, very chill guy who's going to go about his day-to-day life,'' Clarke said. ''Nothing too crazy, nothing too flashy, he's just going to be him.''

Selected No. 4 in the first round of the 2024 amateur draft out of Wake Forest, Kurtz impressed the A's with his maturity from the moment he arrived and made his debut last April. He will turn 23 on March 12.

''I think he learned it really quickly when he got to us, and he mentioned that,'' Kotsay said. ''He did go through a little bit of failure but he found his routines and his processes pretty quickly and recognized you can't get caught in the results, you just get caught in your process, and I think for a young player to realize that as quickly as he did it showed in the success that he had.''