Former Rutgers Star Josh Kuroda-Grauer Hits First MLB Home Run, Exits With Injury

Kuroda-Grauer Continues Historic Start

Former Rutgers baseball star Josh Kuroda-Grauer reached another milestone Monday night, hitting his first Major League Baseball home run before exiting the Athletics A 5-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks with a testicular contusion.

Kuroda-Grauer launched a Statcast-projected 416-foot solo home run in the 2nd off of Arizona starter Mitch Bratt. He singled in the 6th, and finished the night 2-3 with a run and a RBI as he continued his strong start to his major league career.

Three innings after the home run, Kuroda-Grauer fouled a ball off his groin area in the bottom of the fourth. He fell to the ground in pain, but was able to remain in the game for the rest of the inning and finished the top of the fifth, coming out in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Donovan Walton replaced him defensively in the sixth. Kuroda-Grauer underwent an ultrasound after the game to determine the severity of the injury, according to MLB.com

“Right now, the big concern is to make sure there’s no significant injury to him,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said.

The team listed Kuroda-Grauer as day-to-day following the game.

Rutgers Alumnus Matches Athletics History

Despite the injury scare, Kuroda-Grauer’s first 16 games have placed him alongside a century-old piece of Athletics history.

The former Scarlet Knights shortstop is batting .417 with 25 hits, seven doubles, eight runs, four RBIs and a 1.018 OPS through his first 60 major-league at-bats. His 25 hits are tied with Eddie Murphy, who accomplished the feat in 1912, for the most by an Athletics player through his first 16 career games.

Kuroda-Grauer has recorded at least one hit in 14 of his first 16 appearances. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer has been on an absolute tear, racking up eight multi-hit games already. He actually kicked off his big-league career with a bang, racking up three hits against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his major league debut on June 29th, 2026.

The Athletics selected Kuroda-Grauer in the 2024 amateur draft in the third round (75th overall). He just absolutely ripped through the minors. He hit .323 between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas and earned a call to the big leagues.

Kuroda-Grauer had 109 minor-league hits at the time of his promotion, leading all of Minor League Baseball.

From Big Ten Player of the Year to MLB

Kuroda-Grauer’s immediate production follows one of the most decorated individual seasons in Rutgers history.

Somerset, New Jersey native Kuroda-Grauer was announced as the Big Ten Player of the Year in the 2024 season for Rutgers. During the regular season, Kuroda-Grauer hit .428 while notching 95 hits, good for the most hits in the country. A true workhorse, Jenkins played 53 games at shortstop. He was also quite the base stealer, notching 24 while only making 7 errors at the position.

Kuroda-Grauer also received All-America recognition from five outlets, including first-team honors from Perfect Game. He was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist and Brooks Wallace Award finalist during his final season at Rutgers.

He becomes the second former Scarlet Knight to make the majors in 2026, joining Brewers’ pitcher Brian Fitzpatrick. They are the first two Rutgers players coached by Steve Owens to advance to MLB.

Kuroda-Grauer’s immediate concern is recovering from Monday’s injury. Once cleared he will look to continue his debut run to Athletics history for Rutgers’ other representative at the highest level of baseball.

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