It took Wyatt Langford 44 minor league games to prove that it belongs to the majors. Nick Kurtz took only 32.
So, whatever the enthusiasm we had for the fourth choice of the 2023 draft when we learned for the first time that he would receive the call last year, we should also have the fourth choice of the 2024 draft now that he would be going up.
After all, Kurtz went bankrupt with the miners just as well, reducing .336 / .432 / .689 with 11 circuits on these 32 games. During his 20 games in Triple-A Las Vegas this year, he reduced .321 / .385 / .655 with seven circuits. The sample being so small, we should probably take the data we can obtain, and to this end, I will also emphasize that it reduced .261 / .452 / .522 with two circuits in 31 appearances on the plate this spring, walking more (seven) that it did not take it out (five). The main thing is that each test launched in Kurtz so far, in short, although they have been, it has passed with flying colors.
It will take a certain creativity in the programming with Tyler Soderstrom already emerging from the first goal for athletics, but they have expressed a desire to show creativity, again trying DH Brent rooker in the outside field and even floating the idea of using Soderstrom on the third base on occasion.
“The beauty of the process will be that we add a bat that can have an impact in the programming,” said director Mark Kotsay recently. “The way we do this is continuously discussed. But it is possible that a rotation occurs between an external field position, a DH position, a first basic position. Perhaps considering the third base as using something that we can do. There is a ton of options.”
If you are looking for a compat, Matt Olson seems to be a good starting point, and not only because Kurtz is another first goal player of 6 feet 5 inches for the left -handers who will put on green and gold to start his career. Its power is prodigious, the genre that it plays it for all fields. His understanding of the striking area is near the top of the ladders. There is also an average potential for the stick, although I imagine that it will result a little more against the pitching of major leagues given its tendency to swing and miss on the land in the area, a line which he also shares with Olson. Obviously, the extent of his advantage and the evidence of his preparation make it be essential regardless of the format.
This is the easy part.
What is more difficult is how To add Kurtz. Especially if you are already swimming in the first players of the breakout, which seems likely since each passing week presented to us a few others, none of which has yet eliminated affirmations. There is a good chance that they do not stick everyone, but everyone has a sufficiently convincing case for the picking and between the two to feel the most supposed of the assumptions.
I’m coming wrote this MondayMake my best to classify Soderstrom, Jonathan Arannda, Ben Rice, Spencer Torkelson, Kyle Manzardo and Michael Busch (it’s just there) by the thinnest criteria, and I now assume that I have to weigh on the place where Kurtz is also addressed.
Let’s go and take soderstrom from the race. There is simply no scenario by which you abandon the leader of major leagues in the Home Runs. At the other end, Kurtz probably belongs to Manzardo and Busch, which are both a little short of raw power, not yet hit a ball of 110 mph in the majors. Busch also has the simplest concerns of the group’s peloton, not yet started against a left -handed launcher. So we know that Kurtz lands somewhere in the middle, but where among Aranda, Rice and Torkelson are much more difficult to say.
Part of me wants to put it behind the three because I think that the case of escape is particularly solid for everyone, and their production of the year up to date is such that you must assume that you will never have another chance to the one you drop. In addition, the lowest of the three, Torkelson, is somehow the most proven, after having delivered a season of 31 Homer and 94 RBI in 2023. But he came with an average of the stick of .233 and did not make him a choice at the start of the following year. Kurtz has the potential to be in a certain way, Torkelson probably does not do it, that is why another part of me, the most cheeky part, wants to slide Kurtz in front D’Arannda, Rice and Torkelson based on the next justification …
It is even only a consideration in the shallow leagues. You would not happen to go from Aranda, Rice or Torkelson to a roasting league, with its place of additional corner fields to fill, and the same goes if you participate in a head-to-head league against more than a dozen other teams. The kind of leagues where it is possible from a distance uses queues and has 12 teams or less. They are the kind of leagues with an abundant exemption wire and an endless tightening. In such a league, you should probably sell the hardest on the rise, and Kurtz for me has the most increase in this group. This does not mean that it is certain to meet him as a recruit. This does not mean that others lack the rise. This simply means that Kurtz has the most, and in a league so superficial that you could even entertain the idea of throwing Aranda, Rice or Torkelson with what they do now, the increase is essential.
So, I would take Kurtz on Ryan Mountcastle if it came down? Indeed, I would. Jake Burger? You Betcha. Paul Goldschmidt? If that’s what it took, then too bad. In one way or another, Kurtz must be registered. The advantage is simply too large to let him slide to someone else.
But I would try like Mad to avoid abandoning Aranda, Rice or Torkelson. I would throw my worst launcher leaving or anything instead, even if I have not seen a way to ensure that all the parts are integrated into my range at the moment. Again, we do not know which of these first emerging players will really stick, and it may not be Kurtz. The learning curve for the majors is particularly high at the moment, and it took Langford five months Settling last year. Given the difficult defensive adequacy for Kurtz, he will probably not receive the same leash if he is eaten by major league balls at first.
Do you know what is much worse than having too many first basic players to choose? Choosing the bad, you will therefore want to give yourself as much chance of missing as your list can reasonably allow it.
