Now Tied With Ted Williams, Athletics’ Nick Kurtz Is Quietly on the Verge of History

The Athletics’ young slugger has drawn a walk in 19 straight games.

Nick Kurtz is having a stellar sophomore campaign for the first-place Athletics. | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Nick Kurtz was a revelation for the Athletics during his rookie season and has wasted no time building on that so far in 2026. He's quietly creeping closer to accomplishing something that's never been done before in major league history.

After being an issued a free pass by in the seventh inning of a 6-3 victory over the Royals on Thursday, the power-hitting first baseman has now drawn a walk in each of his last 19 games. That's tied with Ted Williams for the third-longest such streak since baseball historians started tracking the statistic nearly 100 years ago.

MLB record for consecutive games with a walk

Year	Player	Team	Consecutive Games
1947	Roy Cullenbine	Tigers	22
2002-2003	Barry Bonds	Giants	20
1941	Ted Williams	Red Sox	19
2026	Nick Kurtz	Athletics	19

The Athletics welcome in the Guardians for a three-game weekend series on Friday. If Kurtz plays all three games he'll have a chance to tie the record on Sunday and break it Tuesday when the Athletics travel to Philadelphia for a date with the Phillies.

Looking at the above chart, it's certainly an interesting collection of names. Bonds and Williams are two of the greatest players to ever put on a uniform. Cullenbine, though a forgotten name, had a really nice career that featured two All-Star selections and a 32.3 WAR. Kurtz is a 23-year-old in his sophomore MLB campaign.

Bonds went on his prolonged walking streak when he was 37 and Cullenbine did it at 33 in his final season of action. Williams's came on a similar trajectory to Kurtz's as the Hall of Famer was only 22 and his his third season of his career.

Drawing walks is certainly a skill, and Kurtz showed his ability to rack them up by drawing 63 in 117 games in '25. This year he's tops in baseball with 33 in only 30 games. Of course, another part of seeing a lot of bad pitches out of the zone is prowess with the bat. And Kurtz has done nothing but rake since reaching the highest level.

Blasting 36 homers last season and posting an OPS of 1.002 was enough to win him Rookie of the Year honors in the American League. Through all the trotting down to first base, he's cleared the fence five times this year.

Consecutive games with a walk is not exactly a record that everyone knows off the top of their head. Yet considering how long they've been playing baseball and how literally everyone who steps into the box is capable of working one, it's pretty impressive. Kurtz is a major reason why the Athletics sit in first place atop the AL West at 17-14 and is part of a talented young core that could give the organization some badly needed postseason success.

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