Nick Kurtz Of The Athletics Named American League Player Of The Month For May; JJ Bleday Of The Cincinnati Reds Named National League Player Of The Month For May

First baseman Nick Kurtz of the Athletics has been voted the American League Player of the Month for May, and left fielder JJ Bleday of the Cincinnati Reds has been voted the National League Player of the Month for May. The announcements were made earlier today on MLB Network.

Kurtz earned his second career award after previously winning last July en route to being named AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. It is the first honor for the Athletics since his teammate Shea Langeliers won last August, with Kurtz becoming the third A’s player to win multiple times in his career, joining Jose Canseco (September 1988 & May 1990) and Jason Giambi (September 2000 & May 2001). Kurtz’s former A’s teammate Bleday earned his first career award, marking the first honor for Cincinnati since Joey Votto won in July 2021. Bleday is the first Reds outfielder to win the award since Aristides Aquino in August 2019.

*Nick Kurtz, Athletics (@nickkurtz_8)*
The 23-year-old hit .333 (34-for-102) with five homers, 26 RBI, seven doubles, a triple, 21 walks, 21 runs scored, three stolen bases, a .569 slugging percentage and a .456 on-base percentage across 28 contests.

The Lancaster, Pennsylvania native led the Majors in RBI and OPS (1.025); ranked second in on-base percentage; tied for second in hits and runs scored; tied for third in batting average; tied for fourth in walks; and ranked 10th in slugging. Additionally, his 58 total bases were sixth-most in the American League.

The 2025 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year reached base safely in 48 consecutive games from April 3rd through May 25th, batting .308/.464/.523 with eight homers, 37 RBI, 11 doubles, a triple, 48 walks and a .987 OPS during the streak. It matched Mark McGwire for the longest single-season on-base streak in Athletics history, tying McGwire’s 48 consecutive games in 1996 as part of a larger franchise-record 62-game on-base streak that spanned the 1995-96 seasons. It was the longest on-base streak by any Major League player within a single season since Shin-Soo Choo reached base safely in 52 consecutive games for the Texas Rangers in 2018.

The 2025 AL Silver Slugger at first base racked up five RBI on May 19th at Los Angeles (AL), marking his fifth career game with at least four RBI. Kurtz also tallied four RBI on May 13th against St. Louis and his five career games with at least four RBI are the most by an A’s player before turning age 24 since Eric Chavez recorded nine games of at least four RBI across the 1999-2001 seasons.

The fourth overall selection of the 2024 Draft recorded at least five homers and 25 RBI in a single month for the second time in his career, joining his 11 homers and 27 RBI last July. Kurtz became the first A’s player since Canseco (May 1986 & July 1987) to record multiple months of at least five homers and 25 RBI before his 24th birthday.

The Wake Forest University product drew multiple walks in three consecutive games from May 20th-23rd, marking the second time in his career that he drew multiple walks in at least three straight games, joining his four-game streak last August. He is the second A’s player to record at least two such streaks prior to his 24th birthday, joining Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who recorded three streaks of at least three consecutive games with multiple walks in 1980.

JJ Bleday, Cincinnati Reds (@jjbleday)
The 28-year-old hit .301 (31-for-103) with eight homers, 25 RBI, eight doubles, a triple, 15 walks, 17 runs scored, a stolen base, a .631 slugging percentage and a .387 on-base percentage in 27 games.

The Danville, Pennsylvania native ranked second in the Majors in slugging; ranked second in extra-base hits (17) and total bases (65); tied for second in RBI; ranked third in OPS (1.018); and tied for seventh in homers. He led the National League in slugging, OPS and total bases.
The fourth overall selection of the 2019 Draft (by MIA) became the first Red with at least 30 hits and 25 RBI in a single month since Votto (30 H/25 RBI) in July 2021. His 17 extra-base hits were the most in a single month by a Red since Aquino had 18 extra-base hits (14 HR/4 2B) in August 2019.

The 2019 NCAA College World Series Champion with Vanderbilt University closed out his first full month with Cincinnati with three consecutive two-hit games. He became the first Red with multiple hits, an extra-base hit and an RBI in three straight games since his teammate Christian Encarnacion-Strand last June. Overall, his 10 multi-hit games are fifth-most on the Reds this season and second-most since his season and team debut on April 26th behind only Elly De La Cruz’s 12 multi-hit games. Overall, Bleday was one of 14 players in the Majors with at least 10 multi-hit games in May.

Now in his fifth season and his first with the Reds, Bleday registered his third career multi-homer game on May 14th, launching a three-run homer in the fifth inning and a two-run homer in the seventh inning. He also hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to cap off a six-RBI game, becoming the second Reds player with six RBI in a game this season, joining rookie Sal Stewart’s six-RBI performance on April 15th.

Bleday recorded 19 RBI in his first 17 games with the Club, becoming the sixth Red to reach 19 RBI in his first 17 games with the franchise and the first since Tyler Naquin also had 19 RBI across his first 17 games with the Reds in 2021. Overall, his 19 extra-base hits are tied with Nick Castellanos (2020) for the most through a player’s first 32 career games with the franchise and his 10 homers are tied for fourth-most.

Others receiving votes for AL Player of the Month included first baseman Jonathan Aranda (.374, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 5 2B, 16 BB, 17 R, .560 SLG, .464 OBP) of the Tampa Bay Rays; outfielder Cody Bellinger (.304, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 9 2B, 2 3B, 20 BB, 19 R, 2 SB, .578 SLG, .415 OBP) and first baseman Ben Rice (.286, 7 HR, 21 RBI, 6 2B, 2 3B, 8 BB, 18 R, 1 SB, .602 SLG) of the New York Yankees; center fielder Byron Buxton (.271, 9 HR, 16 RBI, 5 2B, 9 BB, 17 R, 3 SB, .647 SLG) of the Minnesota Twins; outfielders Julio Rodríguez (.274, 10 HR, 18 RBI, 7 2B, 6 BB, 18 R, 2 SB, .590 SLG) and Luke Raley (.328, 8 HR, 18 RBI, 1 2B, 4 BB, 11 R, 1 SB, .719 SLG, .403 OBP) of the Seattle Mariners; and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (.283, 7 HR, 11 RBI, 6 2B, 8 BB, 18 R, 7 SB, .522 SLG) of the Kansas City Royals.

Others receiving votes for NL Player of the Month included outfielder Juan Soto (.281, 10 HR, 21 RBI, 1 3B, 14 BB, 20 R, 5 SB, .615 SLG) of the New York Mets; first baseman Michael Busch (.300, 4 HR, 24 RBI, 7 2B, 1 3B, 25 BB, 12 R, 1 SB, .510 SLG, .446 OBP) of the Chicago Cubs; outfielder Andy Pages (.266, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 6 2B, 1 3B, 8 BB, 20 R, 3 SB, .560 SLG) and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani (.289, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 6 2B, 1 3B, 16 BB, 16 R, 2 SB) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; second baseman Luis Arraez (.340, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 7 2B, 1 3B, 8 BB, 18 RBI, 1 SB) of the San Francisco Giants; first baseman Spencer Horwitz (.326, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 6 2B, 1 3B, 14 BB, 13 R, 1 SB, .551 SLG, .415 OBP) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; MLB’s leader in batting average, shortstop Otto Lopez (.330, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 7 2B, 3 BB, 12 R, 5 SB) of the Miami Marlins; and second baseman Ketel Marte (.295, 4 HR, 22 RBI, 8 2B, 2 3B, 9 BB, 17 R, .524 SLG) of the Arizona Diamondbacks.