On any given day, Noah Kirk will open an old notebook and read some words of advice he scribbled down:
Never stop studying.
Keep up the hard work.
Never let your dream disappear.
Those words, from his older cousin and Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, have stayed in his head. After all, Alejandro has reached the heights that Noah, 12, has dreamed of ever since he picked up a bat at 3 years old. Whenever Alejandro tells him something, Noah listens.
“He came from nowhere, just a small town in Mexico,” Noah told USA TODAY Sports. “And how he’s on the big stage, (like) last year in the World Series. He’s put in a lot of hard work since he was little, and he’s still putting in the work still.”
The hard work already seems to be paying off for Noah, too.
He has emerged as a leader and tone setter for the Sweetwater Valley Little League 12U All-Stars out of Bonita, California, an unincorporated community near Chula Vista. Noah plays both ways for his team, serving as their leadoff hitter and pitching ace. He’s set to start in their first game of the 2026 Little League World Series against Davenport, Iowa, on Friday, Aug. 21.
Noah helped power his team through regionals with two home runs and in the final against Hawaii, pitched a gem with six strikeouts through four scoreless innings as Bonita jumped out to a 5-0 lead. But in the top of the fifth, momentum started to swing the other way.
Noah gave up back-to-back singles from Kawaihau Community Little League to lead off the frame, and they cashed in on the next at-bat with a three-run homer from Waika Doctolero. The lead suddenly down to just two runs, Noah walked the next batter and it began to look like things might spiral.
But even with his pitch count creeping toward the 85-pitch limit, Noah stayed locked in, reminded himself to trust his teammates, and got the next batter swinging for his seventh strikeout of the game. Now at 83 pitches, Kaikea Saiki was all but guaranteed to be the final batter Noah would face, and he made it count. Noah fell behind 3-1 in the count but managed to work it back full before getting Saiki to hit a comebacker to the mound. Noah fielded the ball, threw the runner out at second, and Mateo Ruiz fired it to first baseman Jesus Cuadra to get a crucial inning-ending double play.
Bonita responded and left no doubt with a six-run bottom half of the inning to shut the door on Hawaii 11-3, punching their ticket to Williamsport and becoming the first team from San Diego County to represent the West since 2016.
That same night, 2,477 miles away in Toronto, Alejandro Kirk went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs against the New York Yankees in a 3-1 win.
“It’s something special for the whole family,” Alejandro Kirk told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish. “We’re all huge on baseball in my family. I think seeing both of us succeed and doing what we love is something that we have to feel proud of.”
And it’s not just them two. Alejandro’s Little League team was coached by his father, Juan Manuel Kirk, who played amateur ball. His older brother, Juan Manuel Jr., is currently a catcher for los Pericos de Puebla in la Liga Mexicana de Beisbol. Noah’s father plays on an adult softball team. Alejandro and Noah play each other in wiffleball in their spare time; “I’m better than him,” he says with a chuckle. There’s an entire ecosystem of baseball lovers there to support Noah, and that extends out into his community.
South San Diego County is a historic Little League powerhouse. Representing California District 42, they’ve sent five teams to the Little League World Series since 2009, though Bonita is the first to make it through regionals in a decade.
“The whole community is pretty baseball crazy,” manager Steve Winnick told USA TODAY Sports. “And then you put his family, which has a big leaguer there, it’s just exponential. We get to play year-round because of our weather. Kids love baseball down south.”
Noah’s loved the game since he could walk. Whenever the Blue Jays are in SoCal to play the Padres, Dodgers or Angels, he’s right there in the family section to cheer on his cousin. His favorite moment came in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium, when Alejandro — the first Mexican-born player to go yard in the Fall Classic — connected on a hanging curveball from Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow. Noah heard the crack of the bat and watched as the ball sailed over the fence in left center field for a three-run go-ahead home run.
The two cousins didn’t have much time after that 18-inning game, but when they got dinner the next night, Noah was still in awe.
“My dream was to make it to the World Series and win it,” Noah said. “But since I got to see one of my family members in it, it was amazing.”
Now that it’s Noah’s turn to play in his World Series, Alejandro told USA TODAY Sports that he’ll be tuned in to his games every step of the way.
“For me, that’s the most beautiful time in baseball,” he said. “When you go out there to have fun and play with a lot of passion. That’s what it’s about.”
Noah will be wearing No. 15 in Williamsport as the jersey numbers were just assigned to players for the tournament, but he sported Alejandro’s No. 30 throughout the entirety of Sweetwater Valley’s run in regionals as a hat tip to the player he looks up to. That familial admiration is mutual.
“It’s been great that he’s been able to follow me around at my games and seeing what he’s doing, it’s something I’m proud of,” Alejandro said. “He’s family. He’s a Kirk. I think he’s done very well for his age, and I think he has a great future.”
But even if the digits on the back of his jersey are different, the name across the back remains the same.