Nick Kurtz wins American League Rookie of the Year, gets full service time
track and field first baseman Nick Kurtz The Baseball Writers Association of America announced that he has been named the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year. his teammates Jacob Wilson won second place and Roman Anthony The Red Sox finished third in the voting. Kurtz was the unanimous choice for the award, which will be retroactively awarded with a full year of service if he finishes in the top two in the voting. Full voting results can be found here.
Kurtz is the fourth overall pick in the 2024 draft and enters 2025 as one of the league’s top prospects. He did not leave the club but was called up on 23 April. Almost immediately, he began to show off his ball-handling talents. Due to his late call-up and brief injury with a strained left hip flexor, he only played in 117 games, but that was still enough to put the ball over the fence 36 times.
It wasn’t a perfect season, as Kurtz’s strikeout rate was as high as 30.9%. However, his 12.9% walk rate is pretty strong. Combined with his aforementioned strength, it was a very productive season. His .290/.383/.619 slash line translated into a 170 wRC+. Of the batsmen who have made at least 20 appearances this year, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani Numbers that exceed wRC+.
It’s impressive that Kurtz accomplished so much despite not even playing a full season. His late call-up also had a significant impact on him and the club. Recent collective bargaining agreements include measures to prevent the manipulation of service hours. If a team promotes a top prospect early in a season to give him a full year of service, the team can earn additional draft picks through the Rookie Promotion Incentive if that player meets certain award voting criteria. On the other hand, if a player is not promoted early to a full service year and then finishes in the top two in his league’s Rookie of the Year voting, he will be retroactively moved to a full service year.
Kurtz entered baseball this year as a consensus top-100 prospect, meaning he would have been PPI-eligible this year had the A’s drafted him earlier. He served just 159 days, 13 days short of the 172 days required for the entire season. The win would earn them an additional draft pick in 2026 if he qualifies for PPI. Since they didn’t draft him early and Kurtz was in the top two in the voting, he would have gotten a full year of service anyway. This reduces the period of time the club has control over Kurtz from six years to five, meaning he is now expected to become a free agent after 2030 instead of 2031.
Wilson was Kurtz’s teammate, but the two were polar opposites offensively. Kurtz strikes out a lot, but also walks, and has tremendous power, while Wilson has little power, rarely walks, but almost never strikes out. His 7.5 percent strikeout rate this year is the second-lowest among qualified hitters, trailing only Luis Alaes. Wilson only hit 13 homers and had an on-base percentage of just 5.2%, but he still posted a 121 wRC+ of .311/.355/.444 in the premium position of shortstop, even if his defensive rating wasn’t high.
The shortstop was actually promoted in July 2024, but he went on the injured list and missed enough time to remain a rookie in 2025. Despite his rookie status, he won’t earn a PPI pick for the A’s even if he finishes first in the voting. Players are not eligible for PPI bonuses if they have at least 60 days of service. Wilson served 73 days in 2024, most of which was on the injured list, meaning he’s in a weird twilight zone of rookie eligibility but not PPI eligibility.
Not only does Anthony enter the year as a top-100 prospect, but he ranks first or second in the league in most rankings. However, the Red Sox have a crowded outfield and it will be difficult for him to break into it. Eventually, injuries opened the way for him and he finally got the call in June. By August, he impressed the Red Sox enough that they signed him to an eight-year, $130MM contract extension.
Although Anthony only played in 71 games, he posted a 140 wRC+ and stole 4 bases while slashing .292/.396/.463. He was credited with saving seven defensive runs and striking out six above average. FanGraphs rates him at 2.7 wins above replacement in less than half a season. He could have pushed those numbers further if not for an oblique injury that sent him to Illinois in early September.
Anthony only received 112 service days this year. If he finishes second in the vote, he’ll get a full year of the term, although that’s largely a moot point on his extension. However, looking at the details of the agreement, the outcome did have an impact on his finances. The deal includes a number of escalators that Anthony can unlock through award voting. A top-two finish would have added some extra bonus, but a third-place finish wasn’t enough to add anything to the total prize money of $130MM. He can still push that by getting MVP votes in the future.
Several other players also received some recognition from voters. Noah Cameron The Royals finished fourth in the voting, followed by Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Carlos Narvaez of the Red Sox, Jack Wright of the Rangers, Will Warren Yankees, Luke Kischal Gemini, Brayden Fisher of the blue jays, Shane Smith of the White Sox, Cam Smith of the Astros, Chandler Simpson ray, Luis Morales A and Jason Dominguez of the Yankees.
Photos by Charles LeClaire, Daniel Kucin Jr., David Richard, Imagn Images
