Where are they now? Mo’ne Davis, Big Al, and more LLWS stars still on our minds

The 2025 Little League World Series is in full swing (pun only partially intended), and we’re ready to see which team emerges victorious in the coming weeks. Will the United States win its seventh straight title? What about Japan, which has captured four Little League World Series championships since 2010?

Oftentimes, the most memorable parts of the LLWS have nothing to do with the champions. Several players have gone viral (thankfully, usually for the right reasons) and left a lasting impression because of their on-field skills or their actions that endeared them to viewers.

Let’s take a look back at some of the more memorable Little League World Series standouts in recent memory. However, we’ve chosen to exclude players like Todd Fraizer (1998) or Cody Bellinger (2007) who reached the major leagues. We’ve also excluded notable alumni like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (1991) and NASCAR driver Austin Dillon (2002) because they’ve remained notable figures.

Danny Almonte (2001)

Born in the Dominican Republic, Almonte moved to New York City in 2000 and immediately became a standout starting pitcher. Almonte first turned heads shortly before the 2001 Little League World Series when, armed with a fastball that reached 76 mph, he no-hit the Pennsylvania team in the Mid-Atlantic Regional finals.

Almonte quickly became a sensation after pitching a perfect game and striking out 62 of the 72 hitters he faced across three LLWS starts. However, Almonte was retroactively declared ineligible after research showed that he was 14 years old rather than 12. Although officials cleared Almonte of any wrongdoing, the damage was done, and adults’ actions forever stained his reputation. 

Almonte briefly pitched for the Frontier League’s Southern Illinois Miners in 2007, posting a 5.28 ERA and allowing 19 walks in 30 2/3 innings. Now 38, Almonte later became an assistant baseball coach at Cardinal Hayes High School in New York City.

Mo’ne Davis (2014)

Although Davis was the 18th girl to play in the Little League World Series, she’s by far the most successful and notable. Davis rose to prominence when she pitched a 4-0 shutout over the Nashville team in August 2014, striking out eight and becoming the first girl to win a LLWS game. Millions tuned in to see Davis baffle and dominate opposing hitters.

Several years later, Davis signed with Hampton University and joined their softball team, albeit as an infielder rather than a pitcher. The 5-foot-5 Davis hit .333 and started 19 games as a true freshman in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. Unfortunately, she didn’t play in 2021 and batted just .219 with a .570 OPS across 49 games in 2022. Davis also committed 17 errors and struck out 31 times in 151 at-bats.

After graduating from Hampton, Davis interned with the Los Angeles Dodgers and enrolled in graduate school at Columbia University. 

Alfred "Big Al" Delia (2018)

ESPN typically has players introduce themselves during the lineup presentation, so you’ll normally hear something like, “Hi, my name is Jake, and I love dogs.” It’s boring and straightforward, but it allows players to have a moment beyond what they do on the field. 

Sometimes, though, we’ll get a viral moment, as we did in 2018 upon meeting New Jersey’s Alfred Delia. 

“Hi, my name is Alfred Delia, back home they call me Big Al, and I hit dingers,” Delia told the national audience.

As of 2024, Delia was still hitting dingers, albeit on the Red Bank Catholic baseball team in New Jersey. Although he homered in a 7-2 Opening Day victory over Rumson-Fair Haven that spring, he told Jersey Sports Zone that he doesn’t go by “Big Al” anymore.

“If they notice me, I just try to be humble about it and say what’s up,” Delia said. “The fame was pretty cool.”

Delia told CBS Sports in July 2025 that he’s attending a junior college.

Isaiah “Zay” Jarvis and Kaiden “Bubs” Shelton, 2022

This one carries a slight asterisk because only Shelton and his Texas East-Pearland squad played in the Little League World Series. However, these two earn a spot on our list because a video of the two during the Little League Southwest Region championship — the game that sent the winner to the LLWS — went viral.

Shelton accidentally hit Jarvis in the head, and while Jarvis was thankfully alright, he noticed that the pitcher was rattled. Jarvis walked over and consoled the pitcher in a nationally-televised moment that quickly took off on social media.

When the two spoke to ESPN in 2023, they said that they communicated via Snapchat and hoped to spend time together in person. 

“I think the reason why people cared so much is because the world is in a really bad place right now,” Jarvis told ESPN. “They were like, ‘Oh, dang, this still happens?’ I think people just lost hope, and then boom, there's these two kids showing compassion for each other.”