On Opening Day, there was no intention of us doing a Where are They Now story, But when Red Bank Catholic’s designated hitter came to the plate in the bottom of the 2nd inning, that all changed.  Al Delia went viral for saying he hit dingers during the 2018 Little League World Series.  Watch the JSZ feature that saw him hit his first high school dinger and the reaction to another viral video.

In the summer of 2018, a Middletown Little Leaguer named Alfred Delia became a household name thanks to a mere five seconds of video on the internet.  Playing for his hometown in the regional portion of the Little League World Series, the ESPN cameras had players do their own intros and Delia became a media sensation when he said ‘Hi, my name is Alfred Delia, back home they call me Big Al and I hit dingers’. 

 Fast forward six years later and the player known across the planet as Big Al is a senior on the Red Bank Catholic baseball team.  He’s nowhere near the biggest player on the roster but he lived up to his reputation on opening day when he indeed hit a dinger.  His solo home run to left in the second inning on Opening Day was part of the Caseys 7-2 win against Rumson-Fair Haven.  

“They don’t even call me that anymore, I’m not that big,” Delia said when talking about his infamous nickname. “I got in the box, I was sitting on one pitch and I got that pitch and I didn’t miss it.”

 Delia’s popularity six years ago included live interviews on ESPN SportsCenter and Jimmy Kimmel live along with a trip to Yankee Stadium where Giancarlo Stanton wore a Big Al Hits Dingers t-shirt.  On a team filled with Division I talent, Big Al was low profile in his high school baseball career until he hit that memorable dinger.  Every now and then, people will still remember his famous internet moment.

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

 The fame is in the midst of a second chapter.  Those who loved Big Al the Little Leaguer are enjoying his first homer in high school across the internet as it has garnered over a million impressions on social media in less than 24 hours.  Delia is committed to play college baseball at Felician University in Rutherford.  Before that, he’s looking to make an impact for the Caseys and their quest for a fifth straight Shore Conference championship.

 “That was a big spot there getting us going,” Hausmann said of Delia’s home run. “He was super excited running around those bases.  The legend continues and hopefully he can hit some more as the season goes on.”

Watch JSZ-TV’s feature on Alfred Delia: