Wildcats in the Pros - April 13

Each week, Wildcats in the Pros catches up with some former Kentucky student-athletes who are doing big things in professional athletics.

 

Devin Booker, a former Wildcat and current Phoenix Suns shooting guard, is having quite the NBA rookie season.

 

Booker’s 16 points in a 121-100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night allowed him to become the fourth-youngest player in league history to reach 1,000 points. He sits behind LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant. Of these four players, Booker reached 1,000 points in the third-fewest games (It took him 74 games). 

 

Booker is averaging 13.8 points, 2.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game. He and his Suns team will complete their season tonight as they host the Los Angeles Clippers. 

Former Kentucky pitcher Taylor Rogers will make his Major League Baseball debut this week, after being called up by the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. 

Rogers started 42 games while at Kentucky, racking up 13 wins, including six during the 2012 season.

At the time of his call-up, Rogers was pitching at Triple-A Rochester with two other former Kentucky pitchers, Logan Darnell and Alex Meyer.

The course, the weather conditions and the pressure produced many high scores on Sunday at the Masters. But former Kentucky golfer J.B. Holmes found himself going in the opposite direction of most of his competitors.

Holmes shot a 4-under par 68 on Sunday at Augusta National and vaulted into a tie for fourth place in golf’s most prestigious event. That marked Holmes’ first Top 10 in any of the four major championships in his career.

Holmes’ strong finish also propelled him from 13th to eighth in the 2016 USA Ryder Cup standings. Holmes was a member of the last United States’ team to win the cup, in 2008 at Valhalla in Louisville.