Nick Kurtz Draws Bold Comparison to Former Philadelphia Phillies MVP

Athletics rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz is a menace at the plate. After being selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, he made his MLB debut at the end of April, and has since produced MLB's first four homer game by a rookie, and then launched a ball 493 feet and over the batter's eye last weekend. He's had a special year, folks.

Since he has become such a feared hitter, analysts have been comparing him to a number of great, sometimes even all-time great, hitters. One of those hitters has been Philadelphia Phillies former MVP Ryan Howard.

Mark DeRosa said on MLB Network, "Watching [Kurtz] flip balls out in Sacramento...let me flip that out the other way. I don't have to cheat. It reminds me of Citizen's Bank Park when Ryan Howard was doing it consistently. Going on to win an MVP. Whenever he wanted, he could go ahead and do that (hit the ball out to the opposite field)."

Like Kurtz, Howard didn't play a full season in his rookie year, and like Howard, Kurtz is the lined up to win the Rookie of the Year award when the season is through. Howard's victory wasn't unanimous in 2005, while the A's first baseman has been the runaway favorite since the end of July.

In that ROY campaign, Howard played in 88 games, hit 22 home runs, and drove in 63 RBI. He had a 133 OPS+, which is solid for a rookie—especially at that period of time when the Steroid Era was coming to a close.

By comparison, Kurtz has played has played in 111 games, belting 32 homers and bringing in 81 RBI with a 172 OPS+. His OPS is just under 1.000, sitting at .997 after Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Only two players in baseball have an OPS above 1.000 this season—Aaron Judge (1.123) and Shohei Ohtani (1.015). Not even Cal Raleigh's 58 home runs have him at that mark, so for Kurtz to be in the realm of Judge and Ohtani means he's a big time bat that's going to be a problem for pitchers for years to come.

To go a little bit deeper, in his rookie season, Howard hit .288 with a .356 OBP, a 9.5% walk rate, and a 28.7% strikeout rate. This year with the A's, Kurtz is batting .291 with a .385 on-base, along with a 13% walk rate and a 30.8% strikeout rate.

From year one to year two, Howard's walk rate soared, going up to 15.3% as he slugged 58 home runs and had a 5.9 fWAR season en route to the NL MVP award in 2006.

During the second half of this season, when Kurtz has really taken off, his walk rate is sitting at 15.5%, and his strikeout rate has dipped to 28.3%, while his wRC+ is 201 (100 is league average). He's showing that he will certainly be in the conversation for the AL MVP next season with more games under his belt.

The big obstacle for him will be that he's in the same league as arguably baseball's best hitter in Judge. The same could be said for Howard the year he won it, being in the same league as Albert Pujols, but his 58 homers were a standout stat that helped propel him past the former Cardinals' star.

The key for Kurtz heading into next season will be to work on his approach against left-handers, whom he's batting .185 against with a .644 OPS.

He doesn't have to be the same stats against both righties and lefties just yet, but upping his production against southpaws will help his overall numbers, and should be enough to get him to being a .300 hitter in his second season. Watching him and Judge pulverize opponents all season as they battle for the MVP could be a lot of fun for A's fans.