Reactions to Nick Kurtz's 494 Foot Grand Slam in A's Win Over Reds

Nick Kurtz hit one over the batter's eye

Sep 13, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz (16) watches the ball soar over the fence for a grand slam against the Cincinnati Reds during the eighth inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

With the A's pulling ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the late inning of Saturday's game and holding a 7-5 lead, rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz absolutely crushed a grand slam that put the game out of reach for the visiting club.

Nick Kurtz absolutely obliterated that ball. pic.twitter.com/yg2cPgusVY

— Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) September 14, 2025

The projected distance on the homer was tallied at 493 feet, which is the longest home run by an A's player since Statcast was introduced (2015), and the longest home run by any big leaguer this season.

When the A's selected Kurtz with the fourth overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, they said that he was the top player on their board going into the draft, so they were very happy with the selection.

It's hard to see why he wasn't the top player on more draft boards with the way that he has completely overtaken Major League Baseball a year later. He showing that he has the potential to be the next Aaron Judge.

A's starter Luis Severino said after the game that he hoped that his car wasn't damaged after that grand slam, because he parks his car around where that one landed—past the batter's eye.

Two more reactions were caught during the replay of the monster shot, including All Star shortstop Jacob Wilson, who was in disbelief, and Lawrence Butler who was in shock.

Jacob Wilson’s reaction to Kurtz’s 493 foot grand slam 😂 pic.twitter.com/uN7xInVmzZ

— Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) September 14, 2025

https://t.co/lcqhtJG82V pic.twitter.com/lILE8FYhFw

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) September 14, 2025

The 22-year-old has now played in 104 big league games and is batting .298 with a .391 OBP and a 1.013 OPS. The only two players in baseball with an OPS over 1.000 are Judge (1.120) and Shohei Ohtani (1.007). Kurtz doesn't have the plate appearances to qualify for that leaderboard, but that's the level of production he's posting less than a full season into his career.

The slam also gives him 31 home runs on the season along with 78 RBI, which both lead all rookies. It should go without saying that he's easily the frontrunner for AL Rookie of the Year with the season that he's had.

The Athletics ended up winning the game by a score of 11-5, giving them the series win over the Reds, who are trying to claw their way into the final NL Wild Card spot over the final couple of weeks of the regular season.

After battling injuries all season, Brady Basso made his season debut on September 6, and earned his first win of the season on Saturday night. The 27-year-old lefty has yet to allow an earned run in his 6 1/3 innings of work this season.

The win also pushes the A's record to 69-80 on the year, which ties their win total from a year ago. With 13 games left on the schedule, even if the A's cool down and go 7-6 the rest of the way, they'd still finish with 75 wins, which is right in the range of where they were hoping to be when the season began.

This team has taken some leaps forward over the course of the season, playing extremely well outside of a 1-20 stretch from May into June. The goal for next year will be to not let those losses snowball like they did this season, because this team, with Kurtz at the center, has the potential to be scary in 2026.