‘I went from the top of the world to nothing in a pinch’: How Noah Zirkle overcame injuries and mental challenges

16 months. 

That is how long rising senior right-handed pitcher Noah Zirkle spent on injury reserve early in his career. Overcoming a daunting task is like swimming in a never-ending abyss. 

For Zirkle, it was his second injury stint. After overcoming a ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tear and a flexor tendon strain in the second half of his junior year in high school, he stayed on the West Coast, committing to Fresno State. 

Zirkle started receiving offers junior year of high school. Ranked top-250 overall – top-100 amongst right-handed pitchers in California. The Oakland native ramped up his training regimen leading into his junior season. In turn, he changed physical aspects such as getting in better shape and generating more national attention. 

"My first few outings were legit," Zirkle said. "That started to bring a lot of attention and the recruiting process happened out of nowhere. For the first half of my junior year, I started fielding calls and emails  pretty much every day from many West Coast schools."

While some change their goals and priorities during the recruiting process, Zirkle's stayed the same: winning. 

"I did not know how to handle it at first," Zirkle said. "I was going about it not focusing on recruiting, but more of needing to win every week and it was going great."

Zirkle injured his UCL, ending his season and chances at summer baseball, thus withering away multiple offers and sending him back to square one. It was another obstacle he needed to overcome.

"That summer going into senior year is the biggest time for recruiting," Zirkle said. "I was not able to play … when I got hurt in April, everything got thrown out the window. Every school I talked to said the same message of 'We like you, but you are hurt.' I went from the top of the world to nothing in a pinch. It was tough to deal with mentally." 

Zirkle regrouped, worked back from injury and during his senior year, got multiple calls and offers once again. Wanting to stay on the West Coast, Zirkle nearly committed to California State Fullerton. 

Who changed his mind? Fresno State. Zirkle accepted an offer on the spot after visiting Fresno State a week later, finally committing after an arduous time. 

In the summer entering his freshman season in college, he fully tore his UCL. It was like he stepped into quicksand, sinking into frustration and nothingness yet again. 

Zirkle required surgery and had a successful procedure two days before he left for Fresno State. He transferred to Mission College, a junior college (JUCO), after missing the entire season with the Bulldogs. 

It went from bad to worse. Two weeks after Zirkle arrived, Mission College cut its program and merged with West Valley. 

After talking with his coaches. Zirkle followed his coaches, joining the Vikings. 

"We had 108 guys on our first day," Zirkle said. "I was like, 'How is this going to work?' I am still not back from injury and was with a huge crop of guys who were healthy and key contributors to their schools the year prior, so I was wondering, 'What am I going to do here?'"

Zirkle returned to pitching in January of 2024, nearly 15 months after the injury. He faced yet one more setback: a scar tissue injury that held off his return for another month. Zirkle's work was far from over; after 16 long, tedious months, the toughest task lay ahead – relearning how to pitch. 

That entire season, Zirkle pitched six times before rejoining the Crawdads with an up-and-down season.

With that comes mental instability. Zirkle took a toll both physically and psychologically. He began to fade; his confidence took a hit. 

"I felt this really big deal of pressure," Zirkle said. "Since I was not a big inning arm, my spot on the team was not guaranteed … That fall was the hardest three months of this whole journey. My life started to spiral a bit and pitching became impossible. They call it the yips and I had it big time. My velo was down, my arm was hurting, I could not throw a strike and every week it seemed to get worse and worse. Off the field, I was a mess." 

As exit meetings rolled around, Zirkle had little to no confidence left. He believed he was going to get cut. Zirkle's coaches had a plan for him. He would serve a redshirt role. He could still practice and train with the team without being listed on the active roster. 

It hurt. Zirkle initially declined because he wanted to play. During this entire process, Zirkle thought about quitting. In fact, he was ready to work at Starbucks. 

After talking with his parents, Zirkle agreed. Once again, his life reset to chapter one. 

"I realized taking a step back was the right idea," Zirkle said. "It was by far the best decision I ever made. I was still a part of the team, but this gave me six months to relearn how to pitch. I worked with my coaches at school and my pitching coach back home. I relearned how to play baseball and found that confidence again. It was probably the best baseball experience I ever had even though I did not play for the team." 

The Zirkle swagger was back. Heading back to Walnut Creek, that summer rebuilt Zirkle. Walnut Creek head coach Brant Cummings and pitching coach Dustine Cheyne allowed Zirkle to continue his re-tooling while instilling more confidence in him to transfer and enter the transfer portal, leaving JUCO, joining Cal State East Bay. The commitment to East Bay and Division II baseball was an emotional exhale for Zirkle. Everything he went through, struggled through and rehabbed for came to a head. 

"It was an emotional moment for me," Zirkle said. "Everything that I had gone through in the last couple of years before that and all the doubts I had inside went away because they gave me the chance to play again and I was taken aback. That whole process was worth it."

Legendary singer and songwriter David Bowie once wrote, "Time may change me, but I can't trace time." In life, time is linear and cannot be reversed. 

Instead of harping on the past, Zirkle looked towards the future and found what he wanted to attain. Through all the injuries, setbacks and hardships endured, the Crawdads gave Zirkle a chance to re-ignite that fire and have fun playing healthy baseball again. More importantly, Zirkle found a second home. 

"He has endured all sorts of ups and downs," Cummings said. "For that guy to be where he is now, that is 100% resiliency. I cannot tell you where that is derived, but I know this: he is tougher than you know what and he is not a quitter."