WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Nick Kurtz was sleeping in when he got the call he was being promoted to the Athletics.
“Half asleep, so I was like a little bit of a dream,” Kurtz said Tuesday, a day after receiving news of the call-up.
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Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz stands during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz fields a ground ball during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz tosses a baseball during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz stands during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz stands during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
A first baseman from Wake Forest, Kurtz was selected fourth overall in last year's amateur draft and signed for a $7 million bonus. The A’s are expected to select his contract to the big league roster ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Texas.
Kurtz would become the third player from the 2024 draft to debut after Houston outfielder Cam Smith and Los Angeles Angels right-hander Ryan Johnson, who both were on opening-day rosters. Smith was the 14th overall pick and Johnson 74th.
Kurtz started last August with seven games at Class A Stockton and was promoted to Double-A Midland for five games. Kurtz hit .321 with seven homers, 24 RBIs and 10 walks in 20 games this season for Triple-A Las Vegas.
He took batting practice with the A’s on Tuesday, hitting a drive over the center field batter’s eye.
“Nick getting his feet on the ground today here. I think it’s exciting to have a prospect of his caliber here,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said before BP.
Kurtz's debut was pushed back to Wednesday because left-hander Patrick Corbin was starting for Texas on Tuesday night. Kurtz was hitting .296 against lefties this season and .333 against righties.
He is 6 feet 5, 240 pounds, a physique Kotsay said reminded him a little bit of Adam Dunn.
“He's a pretty accomplished young hitter and he’s got an advanced approach. As David talked about, the demeanor, he’s a pretty even-keeled kid,” Kotsay said, referring to general manager David Forst.
With Kurtz at first, Tyler Soderstrom could see time in left field and at designated hitter.
Kotsay spoke to Soderstrom in spring training about being ready to be a backup catcher.
“It's not, like David said, every day you ask one your better hitters to make a position move during the season but Tyler is fully open to doing to do that,” Kotsay said. “Our opportunity to get what we see as a future impact bat in the lineup right now and to able to give him an opportunity to go out and perform, things have to happen.”
Kurtz's 2024 season was cut short by a hamstring injury, He played 13 games in the Arizona Fall League.
“I was taking classes less than 12 months ago,” Kurtz said, referring to Wake Forest. “It won’t feel super real until I step on that field. again, for the national anthem or for my first at-bat, where it's like, OK, I'm here now. It's time to go."
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz stands during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz fields a ground ball during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz tosses a baseball during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz stands during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics top prospect Nick Kurtz stands during warmups of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
