Soul of 78- Justin Kamplain

Former pitcher for Walker High School, The University of Alabama, and the New York Yankees Organization

Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Image by Justin Hunter

Before he could write his name, Justin Kamplain was throwing baseballs off the walls of his house in Parrish, Alabama.

“I thought I started when I was four, but my mom told me it was actually three,” he says with a laugh. “Coach Greg Aston let me start park and rec ball early and I just fell in love with it.”

That early love never left him. By the time he was 11, Justin was playing travel ball out of Tuscaloosa. When he transferred from Parrish Elementary to Maddox Middle School, coaches Greg Tinker and Heath Burns helped him start seeing baseball as something bigger and with higher potential. That potential took shape at Walker High School under the guidance of Coach Pat Ware. In Ware, Justin found a mentor and a method. Ware’s lessons went beyond technique. They were mental, emotional, and applicable to life outside of baseball.

“Coach Ware always preached slowing down,” Justin says. “Step off the mound. Take a breath. That advice carried me from high school to college and beyond.”

In his senior year of high school, the game changed. At the annual Alabama/Mississippi Challenge, Justin faced off against a Mississippi State signee while a crowd of scouts watched. He threw one of the best games of his life, resulting in a call from a scout at the school he had always dreamed of playing for: The University of Alabama.

Three years later, the New York Yankees called, too.

Kamplain’s professional career would stretch across six years in the Yankees’ minor league system, from rookie ball to low-A, high-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. He played against future stars, adapted to the mental chess of higher-level hitters, and learned to adjust on a day-by-day basis. After his release during the COVID shutdowns, he played two final seasons of independent ball in Winnipeg, Canada, before hanging up his glove at age 28.

“In pro ball, everyone was the guy where they came from,” he says. “What separates you is how hard you’re willing to work. I wasn’t the biggest or the strongest, but I refused to be outworked.”

These days, Justin is back in Jasper. He’s a nurse at the local hospital, a dedicated husband, and the kind of dad who knows his way around a French braid and a bottle of glitter nail polish. The pressure of professional sports is gone, and his focus is on his family. He and his wife, Caroline, are raising two daughters, Catherine and Virginia. The Kamplain family’s favorite way to unwind is to take a family walk through their neighborhood and talk about both the present day and what lies ahead.

But when Justin does think about the past, it’s with clarity and calm.

“I have no regrets. I gave everything I had to the game, and I loved it,” he says. “I think it’s important to never chase perfection or some ideal situation. You just have to trust your work and enjoy the process.”

It’s the same message he shares with kids who come up to him at the ballfield, full of big dreams just like he had. Though he doesn’t officially coach, the mentorship happens naturally. He listens, he encourages, and he tries to give them what he didn’t always have: someone who’s been there and lived it.

“I think being able to now help the next generation, especially around here where going pro doesn’t happen often, that’s what I’m most proud of,” he says. “I hope I’ve represented Jasper well, not just as a player, but as a person.”

That perspective didn’t come overnight, but it’s the gift baseball gave him - knowing when to step back, take a breath, and focus on what matters most. 78