NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Kurtz tried not to make too much of his latest home run, his 11th in 22 games. However, this one was special.
“I am playing at Yankee Stadium. I grew up a Phillies fan,” the 22-year-old Athletics rookie said. “It’s just a surreal moment.”
Kurtz broke open the game with a three-run, sixth-inning drive off Clarke Schmidt into the right field short porch, sparking former Yankee JP Sears and the A’s to a .
“When he hits the baseball, he impacts,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
A group of about 20 of Kurtz’s family and friends were on hand, including his mom, Marie, and his dad, Jeff.
“Just the easiest. We don’t play in Philly this year,” Kurtz said.
He grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, went to Wake Forest and was selected fourth overall in last year’s amateur draft, gaining a $7 million signing bonus. He started at Class A Stockton last Aug. 10 and was promoted to Double-A Midland nine days later.
Kurtz began this season at Triple-A Las Vegas and hit .400 with six homers and 17 RBIs in his first eight games as part of an opening 13-game hitting streak. That gave him thoughts of a big league callup, but Kurtz went into a 5-for-27 slump with 12 strikeouts.
He got a surprising call on April 21, an off day, from Aviators manager Fran Riordan.
“I was in bed sleeping and I wake up to a phone call from him telling me I’m going up,” Kurtz said. “So that was pretty cool.”
in his first plate appearance. helping the A’s to a 4-0 win over Texas in his debut on April 23. He hit his first home run at Dodger Stadium on May 13, had a , then a . Three days later, he added a .
Kurtz is hitting .256 with 12 homers. 31 RBIs and and .843 OPS in 45 games.
“There’s just a calming presence about him,” said Sears, who has an adjacent locker at West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park. “At times when guys get here and they’ve done really well before, they try and do too much or try and swing too much or get too mad when they get out. I think there was a week or two where he was hitting the ball pretty hard but just hitting the ball at guys and I think as a young player you get pretty frustrated. But it seemed like he just never did.”
Growing up in Pennsylvania, Kurtz attended games at Citizens Bank Park, sitting in the left-field bleachers near Ashburn Alley.
“I always wanted to catch a home run,” he said.
But Kurtz never did.
“I wasn’t that lucky,” he quickly added.
Kurtz rooted for Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay. His father attended one of the 2009 World Series games against the Yankees, a matchup New York won in six games for its most recent title.
That memory still stings.
“I don’t like talking about it,” Kurtz said.
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