Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman discuss the unanimous vote for Athletics 1B Nick Kurtz as the American League Rookie of the Year for the 2025 season. Though there were other great names in consideration, Jordan shares why he voted for Kurtz and why his statistical output put him in a league of his own beyond the other Rookie of the Year candidates.
Check out the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
You voted for the American League Rookie of the Year, and you, like 29 other beautiful souls, uh, put Nick Kurtzz first.
Nick Kurtz is your American League Rookie of the Year.
Jordan, why’d you do that?
Uh, he was really good.
He was, oh, it is great that, like, he comes up, he’s good, he, he plays, like, 30 minor league games, and You know, and, and I, and I wrote about my ballot.
Our colleague Russ Dorsey also had an A rookie of the Year ballot, and we did a little behind the scenes look, which, yeah, it wasn’t just like, we both voted for Nick Kurtz, the end.
Uh, beyond that, I think there were some interesting discussions to be had, and that’s why we decided to write about it.
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But the Kurtz thing, as I kind of alluded to in what I wrote about.
You know, we justifiably marveled over Trey Savage, uh, who hilariously will be eligible next year.
But Trey Savage and what he did in the postseason, and, and this doesn’t take anything away from him.
It’s just like, how is this guy doing this?
He was in the low A and then he was just drafted last year.
Nick Kurtz went from drafted last year to a top 10 hitter in the league like that.
And as good of a season as his teammate Jacob Wilson had and Roman Anthony when he was healthy.
This was an unbelievable debut, historic by many respects.
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The slugging numbers that Nick Kurtz produced, and that is not just that in his minor league park in Sacramento, like wherever he went, this dude was hitting the ball hard and far and often, and wow, I mean, you can, whether it’s slugging, whether it’s home run, whether it’s ISO, like this was a historic rookie season.
It, it really was, and, and sure the sample wasn’t a full season, but, uh.
I am, I am so impressed with what he was able to do, and uh this was certainly an easy pick at the top of the ballot.
If you sort.
By OPS.
On the day that Nick Kurtz debuted.
To the rest of the season.
Number one.
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Aaron Judge.
#2, Shoe Otani, 3, Nick Kurtz.
Like, that’s the, that’s it.
That’s, that’s, that’s that is an amazing sentence.
Yes, this was not good for a rookie.
This is one of the best hitters in the league.