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 .