CHICAGO – When Athletics manager Mark Kotsay saw the email containing MLB’s monthly awards pop up on his phone Wednesday morning, he was admittedly a bit surprised when he opened it and saw Nick Kurtz had won American League Player of the Month for May.
“For me, it was like a very sleepy, successful month,” Kotsay said. “I had to think about it and said, ‘Hey, that was a pretty good month.’”
By no means did Kotsay not think Kurtz wasn’t deserving. It’s just that, in a short amount of time, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year has performed so consistently that it’s hard to distinguish which month is truly spectacular. For the most part, they’ve all been great since Kurtz debuted in the big leagues last April 2025.
Fresh off his award on Wednesday night, Kurtz’s contribution was impossible to ignore. After the A’s mounted a late comeback to tie it up against the Cubs in the eighth, Kurtz capped it in the 10th with an RBI single to put them ahead for good in a 5-4 victory at Wrigley Field.
Securing a series win with a chance for a sweep on Thursday, the A’s continued their road success, now 19-14 away from Sutter Health Park.