Move over, Big Mac: Kurtz's on-base streak one game away from A's record

WEST SACRAMENTO -- First it was Rickey Henderson. Then it was Jimmie Foxx. Now, Nick Kurtz is on par with yet another Athletics legend.

With a third-inning walk in Monday’s 9-2 loss to the Mariners at Sutter Health Park, Kurtz extended his on-base streak to 48 games -- tied with Mark McGwire (1996) for the longest in a single season in franchise history.

Athletics’ longest single-season on-base streaks
2026 Nick Kurtz: 48 games (active)
1996 Mark McGwire: 48
1932 Jimmie Foxx: 47
1917 Ping Bodie: 43
1933 Jimmie Foxx: 42

The young first baseman has reached base safely in every game he’s played since April 3, the sixth game of the 2026 season. He’s doing damage, too, owning a .308/.464/.523 slash line with eight home runs in that span.

Kurtz’s free pass against Seattle starter Luis Castillo was his 52nd of the season in just 53 games played. That puts him on pace for 157 walks, which would comfortably be the most since Barry Bonds drew an MLB-record 232 in a monster 2004 campaign. Kurtz’s .444 on-base percentage leads the Majors by a wide margin: Houston’s Yordan Alvarez is second at .415.

“His power is so pure and so insane, but his plate discipline has always been really advanced,” A’s outfielder Carlos Cortes said of Kurtz.

The No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 Draft, Kurtz proved himself as a well-rounded hitter during his AL Rookie of the Year Award-winning campaign in 2025. He’s been back for more this season with a .925 OPS that ranks 10th among qualifying hitters.

Just 23, Kurtz is keeping his lengthy on-base streak alive and climbing Athletics leaderboards seemingly every night. When he singled in the third inning Sunday in San Diego to extend his streak to 47 games, he passed Henderson (46 games from 1980-81) and tied Foxx (1932) for the second-longest on-base streak in A’s history.

Kurtz’s on-base excellence transcends not just A’s history. He also continues to climb up the list of longest single-season on-base streaks for any player age 23 or younger since 1900:

1941 Ted Williams: 69 games
1943 Stan Musial: 55
1975 Greg Gross: 52
1937 Joe DiMaggio: 52
2026 Nick Kurtz: 48 (active)
2001 Albert Pujols: 48
1984 Alvin Davis: 47
1941 Ted Williams: 44

Williams also holds the MLB record for the longest on-base streak, regardless of age, with an 84-game stretch from July 1, 1949-Sept. 27, 1949.

Asked if Kurtz’s innate ability to draw walks reminded him of any former teammates, A’s manager Mark Kotsay pointed to none other than Henderson, a fellow Padre back in 2001, saying, “those guys … have a high walk rate, really are disciplined, seem to not chase.”

“For Nick, it’s not even the chase aspect,” Kotsay said. “It’s really being selective and knowing what he wants to do at-bat to at-bat and pitch to pitch, really.”

While Kurtz’s single-season streak now matches McGwire’s from 1996, “Big Mac” actually reached in 62 straight games between 1995 and ’96, so Kurtz has at least two more weeks to go before he can pass his fellow slugger in terms of all-time A’s on-base streaks.

If he does, there’s a good chance he’ll do so via a walk. Kurtz has drawn at least one base on balls in 36 of the 48 games during his streak, walking multiple times in nine of those contests.

Monday was no exception, as pitchers continue to be careful with the red-hot A’s star. And with the way things are going, why shouldn’t they be?

“I mean, I’d be scared to face him, too,” Cortes said. “We don’t blame them.”