Wake Forest alumni and MLB rookie Nick Kurtz debuted on 4/23 against the Texas Rangers. Kurtz was a record-shattering first baseman for the Demon Deacons, being a three year starter and leading the Deacs to a third place finish in the 2023 College Baseball World Series.
Kurtz was one of the finest recruits and then eventually player in program history. Just to name a few of his accolades; 2024 Captain, 2024 and 2023 second-team All-American, 2022 all-freshman team, 2x Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist, 2x All-ACC, 4x ACC player of the week, and 2x National Player of the Week. He finished his collegiate career with a .331 average, 200 hits, 38 doubles, 62 home runs, and a staggeringly high .509 on base percentage. Kurtz also left Winston-Salem with the records for Most Career Walks(189) and Most Walks in a Single Season(78). He was such a lethal hitter, pitchers frankly didn’t want to pitch to him.
Now the present, Nick Kurtz was a first round draft pick in the 2024 MLB Draft going fourth overall to the massively struggling Oakland Athletics. He was assigned to Double-A Midland Rockhounds out of Texas. He had a short time in Double-A with being called up to Triple-A in the same year. He played 12 games in 2024 with a .368 batting average, 14 hits and four of those being home runs. In 2025 he was in Triple-A for the Las Vegas Aviators, playing in 20 games before he was called up, with a .321 average, 24 RBI’s, 27 hits, and seven long-balls.
His major league debut started out with a bang, with a RBI single up in the middle in the first inning giving the Athletics the lead. The rest of his debut went how'd you expect with a dropped fly-ball and a strike-out, finishing 1-4 but the A’s did get the win 5-2 over the Rangers. Kurtz is a very promising rookie and it's only up from here for him!