A’s first baseman breaks one of Barry Bonds’ modern records

Barry Bonds has come company in the record books:

A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz.

The Giants’ legendary slugger set numerous marks that still stand on his way to becoming the sports’ all-time home run king. One of them fell Thursday, in a Triple-A ballpark, no less.

Giants legend Barry Bonds’ modern-day record of consecutive games with a walk in a season was broken by the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz on Thursday. Getty Images

Kurtz, 23, surpassed Bonds’ modern-day record when Royals reliever John Schreiber intentionally put him on base in his last plate appearance of the A’s 6-3 win Thursday at their temporary home in Sacramento. It was his 19th consecutive game with a base on balls. Few other hitters had come close since Bonds ended the 2002 season with walks in all of his final 18 games.

Bonds, in addition to the single-season and all-time home run records, holds the top-three single-season walk totals in MLB history. He ended the 2002 campaign with 198, second only to the astounding 234 free passes opposing pitchers issued him in 2004.

Kurtz, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 draft, has earned his own reputation as a fearsome lefty in short time. He was the American League Rookie of the Year and the AL Silver Slugger winner at first base last year, batting .290 with 36 homers and a 1.002 OPS in his first big-league season.

But nobody is Bonds.

The Athletics’ Nick Kurtz broke Barry Bonds’ single-season record for consecutive games with a walk. AP

Over the course of his 18-game streak, Bonds drew 34 total bases on balls — 14 intentional passes. He struck out only seven times and batted .409 with a 1.389 OPS.

Kurtz, to his credit, has five homers in his 19 games to Bonds’ four during his streak. He has produced a respectable .963 OPS. But he has also struck out 25 times — more than his number of walks (24). Only four have come intentionally, fewer than Shohei Ohtani or the Nationals’ James Woods in that span.

Bonds extended his streak by walking in the first two games of the 2003 season, including a pair of intentional passes on Opening Day. The only player in MLB history with more consecutive games with a walk is the Tigers’ Roy Cullenbine, who went 22 in a row during the 1947 season.

That puts Kurtz in a tie for second on the all-time leaderboard for the single-season record with Ted Williams, who also walked in 19 consecutive games in 1941.

Just six others have drawn a walk in 15 straight games since Cullenbine in 1947: Yankees first baseman Nick Johnson (2003), Braves third baseman Chipper Jones (1999), Rangers infielder Toby Harrah (1985), Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra (1980) and Braves infielder Darrell Evans (1976).