Athletics’ first baseman Nick Kurtz won this year’s American League Rookie of the Year, while Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin won the award for the National League.
Kurtz was the unanimous winner to beat out teammate Jacob Wilson and Roman Anthony of the Boston Red Sox.
Baldwin received 21 of 30Â first-place votes to beat out Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton and Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Caleb Durbin to receive the honor.
Kurtz is the ninth player in A’s history to win the Rookie of the Year award. He is the first to accomplish the feat for the organization since Andrew Bailey in 2009.
There was already a lot of hype for Kurtz after the Athletics selected him with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft. He entered his first full season in professional baseball as the 37th-ranked prospect by MLB.com.
The A’s wasted little time in getting Kurtz to the big leagues, promoting him from Triple-A on April 21. It took 17 games for him to hit his first homer, but the floodgates opened after his solo shot against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 13.
Kurtz put up a robust .290/.383/.619 slash line with 36 homers in 117 games. Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were the only players who had a better slugging percentage with at least 450 plate appearances.
Per MLB.com’s MartÃn Gallegos, Kurtz is the eighth rookie in MLB history to post an OPS over 1.000. Judge, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun were the only players who accomplished it in the 21st century before the A’s young superstar.
The Athletics are still in the rebuilding phase but the stellar debut seasons from both Kurtz and Wilson give them two pillars they can use to focus on adding talent around.
When Sean Murphy suffered a cracked rib early in spring training, the Braves needed a starting catcher for the regular season. They gave the job to Baldwin after he hit .276/.370/.423 in 124 games between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024.
Baldwin, a third-round pick in the 2022 draft, entered this season as Atlanta’s top prospect and No. 62 overall prospect, per MLB.com.
“There’s no question he’s ready for it,” Braves ace Chris Sale said in March after Baldwin was officially added to the 26-man roster. “We’re in a good position no matter who is out there. But just his attitude, his character and his demeanor, he’s as prepared for this as anybody.”
Baldwin made Sale look very smart by posting a .271/.341/.469 slash line with 19 homers in 124 games. On top of his offensive prowess at a position that is notoriously difficult to put up big numbers, he graded out very well defensively.
Baseball Savant ranked Baldwin sixth among all MLB catchers in blocks above average, a measure of how effective a player is at preventing passed balls and wild pitches.
Baldwin led all NL rookies with 3.1 FanGraphs‘ wins above replacement and ranked fifth among all catchers in the senior circuit in that category.
The 24-year-old is the 10th player in Braves franchise history to receive the NL Rookie of the Year award, tying them with the New York Yankees for the second-most by a team. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers have more (18).
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