FRESNO, Cali. \u2014 The biggest sporting event of the year is just around the corner, with the World Series set to kick off tomorrow.<\/p>\n
And for one Fresno boy, this year’s series holds even more excitement as he’s about to live a dream that most can only imagine.<\/p>\n
Devin-D Barrera, 10, has earned an all-expenses-paid trip to Toronto, where he will compete in Major League Baseball’s “Pitch, Hit & Run” finals during the World Series.<\/p>\n
Devin-D, will fly out on Saturday to join the best young players from across North America for this incredible opportunity.<\/p>\n
“My name is Devin-D…and I love baseball,” Devin-D said with a proud smile.<\/p>\n
But before diving into the excitement of this big moment, there\u2019s a story behind Devin-D’s unique name, one that his father, Javier, is more than happy to share about the decision behind it with his wife.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to call him Dodger,” Javier said. “But she said no, we’re not gonna have him Dodger, it sounds like a dog’s name. So, she wanted to name him Devin, so she used the D from Dodger, put it as Devin and still has the hyphen for Dodgers.”<\/p>\n
And you bet, Devin-D was born into a Dodger\u2019s onesie.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve been loving the Dodgers since I was born,” said Devin-D.<\/p>\n
Baseball runs deep in the Barrera family.<\/p>\n
Devin-D plays for the JV team at Baird Middle School in Fresno and also competes for the Sun Devils travel team.<\/p>\n
His father, Javier, shared that weekends have been all about baseball since Devin-D was just 6-years-old.<\/p>\n
Devin-D says he has been playing the game since he was 3.<\/p>\n
He’s even created his own tutorial videos to teach other kids how to play.<\/p>\n
Taking his own advice, Devin-D is now well on his way to making a name for himself on the world stage.<\/p>\n
His father said, “”We’re excited. This is something that he’s tried to do for the last three years. He’s come short each time and it just shows hard work, pays off.”<\/p>\n
For Devin-D, this is the culmination of years of practice, sacrifice, and determination.<\/p>\n
“Going to the World Series, I\u2019m so excited. I get to fly to Toronto to see Toronto vs. Dodgers. It\u2019s going to be the best matchup ever,” he said.<\/p>\n
For Javier, the trip to the World Series holds even more significance.<\/p>\n
As a father, it\u2019s a moment of pride, excitement, and nerves all wrapped into one.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a dream come true. I mean, have you seen the price of World Series tickets? They\u2019re crazy,” Javier laughed. “So, there’s no way we would ever go to a World Series game. So, this just makes a dream for myself come true, for him to come true, and of course, the family.”<\/p>\n
As for Devin-D, he’s not just living the dream, he’s chasing it, too.<\/p>\n
“My ultimate goal is probably to be the number one shortstop in the state,” he said confidently.<\/p>\n
To reach this point, Devin-D had to excel in all three skills\u2014pitching, hitting, and running\u2014accumulating the highest scores across North America.<\/p>\n
He advanced through regional championships and earned a spot in the finals based on his impressive performance.<\/p>\n
Although Devin-D has big league dreams, he says he’s focused on his school team right now.<\/p>\n
He’s trying to raise money for new equipment.<\/p>\n
If you’d like to help, you can click here to get directed to the fundraising page.<\/p>\n
We wish Devin-D the best of luck at the World Series Finals, and we\u2019ll be cheering for him every step of the way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Cali. \u2014 The biggest sporting event of the year is just around the corner, with the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-237135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}