Kentucky Baseball has built a culture that’s unbreakable, even through the thick and thin of a roller coaster season. The Bat Cats have appeared in four straight NCAA Tournaments, have fans pack out ballparks no matter the location and are never out of a ballgame.

Kale Hammer, a Seattle University left-handed pitcher, recently transferred to Kentucky on Wednesday, June 10. He started in 13 games in the 2026 season, going 2-4 with a 5.79 ERA. He tallied 61 strikeouts through 70.0 innings pitched as well.

Hammer sat down for an interview with myself as part of KY Insider, highlighting the culture, his transfer decision and how important he will be in the Wildcats’ bullpen next season.

Q: What influenced your decision to transfer away and what stood out to you about Kentucky? Was it as simple as playing at a SEC school with more opportunities or was it more complex than that?

“What stood out to me about Kentucky is the coaching staff and how they are as human beings, they truly are great people and want to make their players better at every aspect of life. SEC was a big part but I felt like I connected with the Kentucky coaching staff very well and they were exactly what I was looking for.”

Q: What do you think the most impressive part of your game is? Are you focused in big moments, strikeout heavy, etc.?

“I believe the best part of my game is my ability to keep an even demeanor on the mound in any situation, I think I have a great ability to locate multiple pitches around the zone and be clutch in big moments.”

Q: What’s your best leadership qualities? I think, and I speak for the fanbase, but the team is in need of a guy to lead the bullpen and consistently put out during the season and postseason.

“I’m a quarterback at heart, so I think when it comes to my leadership qualities I just want to lead by example. When energy is low always making sure to get it back up and everyone rally’s off of everyone.”

Q: How do you feel about the fanbase so far? I know you’ve only had a short glimpse of it, but have you had any interactions yet?

“It honestly doesn’t feel real yet to me, the amount of support I’ve already gotten within a few hours is incredible and I think that alone speaks for how awesome of a fanbase Kentucky has.”

Q: What’s your personal goals for this upcoming season? You can be as specific as you want to be, and even include team aspirations as well.

“I definitely want to earn a big role on the staff, I believe I can help the team win but the most important thing to me is just that we win. I want to help bring Kentucky to Omaha next year and win the national title.”

Kentucky athletics is in the prime of the offseason, with the Bat Cats wrapping their season up and the countdown to college football underway. Luckily for members of the Big Blue Nation, three former Wildcats will be playing in the 2026 NBA Finals, beginning tonight on ABC.

Karl-Anthony Towns

How can we not start with the most loved big man in the league, Karl-Anthony Towns. From his funny character on the court to his big moments in the blue and white, Towns has made a name for himself in this playoff run as one of the most consistent bigs in the league.

He basically records a double-double every single game, and has set multiple records for the New York Knicks this year, notably becoming the first Knicks center to record a triple-double in the playoffs and moving up to the third all-time for the most 20-10 games in Knicks postseason history.

However, while he’s battled and bruised his way through the eastern conference, “Big Purr” will be tasked with taking on superstar Victor Wembanyama, who’s quickly took the league by storm. It’ll be interesting to see how KAT, the former cat, performs against the 7-foot-4 big.

De’Aaron Fox

Switching teams, we have to talk about the speedy De’Aaron Fox. While he’s dealt with a right ankle injury and fought through adversity this postseason, he’s still produced a handful of impactful games for the San Antonio Spurs.

Fox is good for six or more assists a night with a couple of steals, and if his shot is falling, he becomes extremely dangerous on the court. While he struggled against the Oklahoma City Thunder from the field, he’s still managed to tally double-digit performances in most of the playoffs games so far.

His shiftiness and agility opens up the Spurs offense in a multitude of ways, and when he’s on the court, any game turns into must-see television. Fox will earn the starting spot tonight at point guard, making his first NBA Finals appearance.

Keldon Johnson

Last, but certainly not least, is one of my personal favorite Wildcats ever with forward Keldon Johnson. Serving a pivotal role off of the bench, Johnson makes the right plays at the right time.

He silently will get a big rebound or make a huge play on the defensive side of the ball, but more occasionally, he’s hitting a shoot from deep, just like he used to do at Rupp Arena.

Making two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, Johnson will look to spark some momentum for the Spurs on the biggest stage of them all.

Get Your Popcorn

Well Wildcats fans, get your popcorn ready and find a comfy seat. Towns will face Fox and Johnson tonight in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, airing live on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Can the Knicks break the drought that has casted a shadow on New York for some time, or will the Spurs add another championship to their collection and etch the beginning of a new dynasty?

From last to first, Denny Hamlin hoisted the Guiatar Trophy of the Crackerbarrel 400 after delivering a clutch, late-race performance Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway, edging out his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.

It was anything but smooth early for Hamlin, though.

Stage 1: Leader Penalty and Brake Rotor Issues

Starting from the pole after Saturday’s qualifying was cancelled due to rain, Hamlin was hit with a drive-through penalty for jumping the initial start. That briefly opened the door for Tyler Reddick, driver of the 45 car that Hamlin owns with 23XI Racing, who inherited the lead early and led the first 35 laps of the race.

As the yellow waved with the Lap 35 competition caution, multiple drivers made the strategy call to take just two tires and gain some positions, including Shane Van Gisbergen, who assumed the lead.

Van Gisbergen, whose performance improvement on ovals is certainly putting people on notice, led the race for 12 laps, ultimately being passed in a battle with Kyle Larson.

The stage included two more cautions. The first being Trackhouse Racing rookie Connor Zilisch, who hit the turn 1 wall after a brake rotor exploded on lap 72, shortly followed by his teammate Ross Chastain on lap 81. The debris from these incidents put a hole in Ryan Preece’s radiator, ending his race.

During those rounds of pit stops, many cars made two tire calls. AJ Allmendinger and Riley Herbst really rolled the dice, staying out.

Following Chastain’s caution, the stage was just a one-lap shootout. Allmendinger earned his first oval stage win at the Cup level, narrowly beating Larson, followed by Blaney, Elliott, Reddick, Wallace, Byron, Briscoe, Herbst, and Suarez.

Stage 2: Cautions and Cautions

Hamlin finally worked his way back into the top ten, as Larson dominated the first part of Stage 2.

During green-flag pit stops, a caution was called on Lap 145 for a spinning Austin Dillon after he had to check up, and Chris Buescher got into the back of him.

The caution flying during green-flag pit stops completely changed the running order and cost some of the fastest cars in the race, like Larson and Chase Briscoe, a lot of track position. Instead of being among the leaders following the caution, they were at the back of the top 10 as the race restarted.

This put Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott at the front of the pack, with AJ Allmendinger having his best run in some time in third. However, that was short-lived as his race ended with a blown brake rotor.

As the race restarted from that caution, Todd Gilliland spun due to contact from Corey Heim, which also collected Cole Custer.

Following his Coke 600 win last week, Daniel Suarez won the stage under caution, followed by Bowman, Stenhouse, Cindric, Hamlin, McDowell, Byron, Briscoe, and Keselowski.

Final Stage: JGR Trio

To start the final stage, it was a new race for Hamlin, who had reassumed the lead. Yet, the chaos continued.

As cars stacked up on Lap 193, Brad Keselowski had to lift, and Austin Dillon hit him from behind, sending Keselowski into the outside wall of the frontstretch and also collecting Austin Cindric.

Keselowski’s team voiced their opinion on the radio that Dillon wrecked them on purpose, calling for NASCAR to take action.

The field stacks up and @keselowski gets turned. pic.twitter.com/ZLiY26q23C— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 1, 2026

Just 11 laps later, the caution flag flew as Bubba Wallace was sent to the outside groove and collided with Chris Buescher, collecting two Hendrick cars, William Byron, putting him in the outside wall, as well as Alex Bowman on his way back down the track.

At this point, some drivers, including Ryan Blaney, made the decision to gamble on being able to make it to the finish, being just outside the pit window. At the front, it was the trio of JGR cars, with Hamlin defending his lead from Bell and Briscoe.

With 55 laps to go and a pit stop still ahead, Bell made a move and took the lead from Hamlin, using some lap traffic to his advantage. With some strategy still in play, Bell looked like he was the car to beat, and he would reassume the lead after the pit cycle, which he did with 12 laps to go, but a caution flew for Chris Buescher on the same lap.

The race went back green with four laps to go, as the JGR trio was 1-2-3, pushing each other to the edge. As they came to the white flag, Bell had the advantage, but was door-to-door with Hamlin, with Briscoe making it three-wide into Turn 1.

Bell overdrove the corner, and Hamlin cleared him off of turn 2 and drove off with his 62nd career win, his first at Nashville despite being the best-rated driver at the track.

As the cars behind him came to the checkered flag, Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott crashed hard after crossing the finish line, starting with a push from Blaney into Elliott. All drivers were okay, and Blaney profusely apologized.

Kyle Larson also spun onto pit lane amidst the excitement after cutting a tire on the final restart, finishing 23rd and spoiling a potential top 10 finish.

“Man, what an unbelievable day — starting first, going to last, and back to first,” Hamlin said after his win.

Hamlin noted that his experience helped him in this one.

“I just keep learning. It’s been a while since I won a shoot-out like this where I wasn’t leading. I don’t know when the last one was, but it’s been a while,” he said.

“I’ve definitely lost way more in these same situations where I’m Christopher Bell, and I do the same thing, I overdrive corners, and I just lose it. But I just wanted to be patient this time and just try something different, and it worked out.”