Mariners must hope AL West rival keeps foolishly ignoring slugging prospect
The Mariners don’t need another dangerous slugger on an AL West rival.
The Seattle Mariners have already felt the sting of an Athletics slugger in 2025, as Tyler Soderstrom clubbed three homers against them in a split of a four-game series that opened the year for both clubs at T-Mobile Park.
Soderstrom now leads MLB with eight long balls, yet he’s only one of two hitters in the A’s system who leads his respective league in homers. The other is Nick Kurtz, who leads all minor leaguers with seven homers amid an attention-grabbing season for Triple-A Las Vegas.
For now, the A’s aren’t calling the 22-year-old Kurtz up to The Show just yet. The Mariners will have to hope they remain steadfast in this position, because this is a guy who could do real damage to their outlook in the AL West.
The Mariners will benefit if the A’s continue to keep Nick Kurtz at Triple-A
That Kurtz has burst onto the scene so thoroughly at the outset of 2025 is not what you’d call a surprise. He was the No. 4 pick in the draft just last year, and that had everything to do with the sky-high potential of his bat.
“More than just a slugger, he’s a complete hitter with no discernible weakness who crushes left-handers and right-handers and all types of pitches,” read the book on Kurtz at MLB Pipeline, which rated him as a 60 hitter with 65 power. “He controls the strike zone, covers the entire plate and hits the ball with authority all over the ballpark.”
