The New York Yankees know better than anyone how rare it is to see a rookie arrive with a swing that instantly earns comparisons to the game’s elite. According to The Athletic, that’s exactly what’s happening with Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz, whose bat metrics align him with Aaron Judge.
It’s not just about size, though the similarities are hard to miss. Kurtz, listed at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, stands in almost the exact frame as Judge. That’s only the beginning of the parallels.
A Swing Built Like the Best
The Athletic’s Eno Sarris broke down the numbers: bat speed and swing tilt, the two most telling measurements we now have for evaluating hitters. Kurtz averages 77.5 mph on his swings, placing him among the fastest bats in the league. His average tilt through the zone is 39 degrees, giving him natural loft that produces home runs to every field.
Those numbers aren’t just impressive—they’re nearly identical to Judge’s. According to Baseball Savant, Judge’s average bat speed is 76.9-ish, with a 38-degree tilt. Shohei Ohtani, the other hitter Kurtz is drawing comps to, checks in at 76.1 mph and 37 degrees. Put those swings side-by-side, and you’re looking at a rookie who is already moving like two of the most dangerous sluggers of this generation.
What makes Kurtz stand out further is the timing. He lets the ball travel deeper than most hitters, with an intercept point closer to Judge’s than anyone else in the game. Combined with his elite bat speed, that ability creates the opposite-field power that only the sport’s biggest stars possess.
The Judge Blueprint
For Yankees fans, the comparison is impossible to ignore. Judge was once the towering prospect who needed to prove his swing would play in the majors. Kurtz is following that blueprint almost step for step, already leading all rookies in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs, and Wins Above Replacement.
The Athletic placed him in an exclusive group of hitters with Judge and Ohtani based purely on swing characteristics. When you slightly relax the bat speed criteria, the group expands to include Mike Trout. That’s the company Kurtz keeps after only a few months in the big leagues.
There’s also the nickname. Dubbed “The Big Amish” for his Lancaster, Pa., roots, Kurtz brings a larger-than-life presence at the plate. It feels familiar to Yankees fans who watched Judge evolve from a giant prospect into the face of the franchise. The lesson from Judge’s career applies here too: raw metrics don’t guarantee superstardom, but when combined with plate discipline and consistency, they can build a perennial MVP candidate.
That’s the challenge Kurtz faces now—turning his powerful swing into year-over-year production. The Athletic cautions that there will be swing-and-miss tendencies, especially against high fastballs, just as Judge has had to adjust throughout his career. But the ingredients are already there, and the numbers suggest his ceiling is as high as anyone’s.
For the Yankees, seeing another hitter mirror Judge’s early metrics serves as both validation and warning. It validates just how unique Judge’s swing truly is. But it also warns that a rival franchise may have found its version of the Yankees’ captain.
If Nick Kurtz sustains this trajectory, the comparisons to Aaron Judge won’t just be statistical. They’ll be historical.
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