A's No. 2 Prospect Headed to IL, Opening Up New Opportunity

Jason Burke | Aug 26, 2024

Lugnuts' Will Simpson, left, celebrates his two-run double with manager Craig Conklin during the fifth inning in the game against the Loons on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at Jackson Field in Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Oakland Athletics first rounder and No. 2 prosepct Nick Kurtz is headed to the IL, per Melissa Lockard of The Athletic. Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reports that he was pulled from Saturday’s game with Double-A Midland after stretching to make a play at first base and was diagnosed with a strained hamstring.

There is no timeline for his return to the field, but with just three weeks left in the season, this could be a season-ending injury. At the same time, if Midland sticks around in the postseason for a little bit, there is a chance that he could join the team for that run. Obviously any timeline depends on how severe the hamstring strain is.

Lockard also mentioned that with Kurtz landing on the IL, that the former Wake Forest product has been Wally Pipp'ed, and that 22-year-old first baseman Will Simpson is being called up from High-A Lansing.

Simpson has been raking all season, batting .270 with a .373 OBP and 16 homers in 109 games. The promotion was long overdue, and now, with Midland making a run towards the postseason, he'll get his chance at the next level. Interestingly, the Kurtz move hasn't been made official online, but Simpson's player page shows that he was promoted on Sunday.

At 30-21 in the second half, the RockHounds sit atop the second half standings, two games ahead of Frisco in the Texas League South. The wrinkle here is that Frisco already secured a spot in the postseason by winning their division in the first half, so if they were to overtake Midland over the next three weeks, then all the RockHounds would have to do is finish second in the South.

Right now they hold a 6.5 game lead over the third place team, Amarillo. The two teams will play each other for six games down the stretch in Midland during the first week of September.

The RockHounds also have the best run differential in the Texas League by far at +151 on the year, with the next-best being Frisco at +90.