Dusty Dunwoody has seen more traffic off the field over the past month than he faced on the basepaths his senior season.
The Royal High right-hander just completed one of the great pitching seasons in Ventura County history.
Dunwoody was 10-0 with a 0.22 earned-run average, striking out 115 batters in 64.1 innings for the Coastal Canyon League champion Highlanders.
The ERA is Ventura County’s lowest among qualified pitchers in 50 years, tying the 1976 season of Lou Maretta of St. Bonaventure for fourth on the all-time single-season list.
“Honestly, it was some of the most fun I’ve had in my entire life playing baseball,” Dunwoody said. “I wasn’t focusing on too much stats-wise. I was just trying to get wins with the boys.”
His arsenal of a 95 mile-per-hour fastball, biting slider in the mid-80s and changeup was downright dominate.
A 46% strikeout rate meant he nearly struck out half the batters he faced. Opposing hitters managed a .158 batting average and reached base at a .220 clip.
“He throws hard,” Royal catcher Peyton Visage told The Star in April. “The way that he controls the zone and hits his spots is just electric. He does it perfectly almost every single time.”
The Coastal Canyon League and Ventura County Baseball Coaches Association’s Pitcher of the Year finished his three-year varsity career 20-3 with a 1.15 ERA and 256 strikeouts in 170.1 innings.
The Star’s 2026 Baseball Player of the Year entered the season as one of the top 40 high school baseball players in the state, according to Baseball America.
And he came out of it with a new college commitment and status as one of the top 200 prospects in next month’s Major League Baseball Draft.
Which will put his budding baseball career at a fork in the road soon.
“I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Dunwoody last week from Phoenix, Arizona, where he took part in the MLB Draft Combine.
Dunwoody had been committed to Arizona since before he took the mound as a junior. But a coaching reshuffle in Tucson led him to quietly decommit during his senior season.
He committed to USC early this month, less than a week after the Trojans’ season ended just short of the College World Series.
“USC just felt like home,” Dunwoody said. “I’m really excited about the opportunity there. … They’re definitely on the rise for sure.”
USC head coach Andy Stankiewicz was in contact with Dunwoody from the moment his decommitment was public.
“It was really nice building that relationship,” Dunwoody said. “He introduced me to the pitching coach. … The next week I went out on a visit.”
Dunwoody has worked out in the offseason with USC pitcher Cameron Faussett, who is a Newbury Park High graduate.
As he prepares to make the difficult decision between playing in college or signing with the professional team that potentially drafts him in July, Dunwoody finds himself appreciating the pressure.
“It’s definitely stressful,” Dunwoody said. “I’m doing everything I need to be doing. But I’m also looking at it like I’m really happy this is happening. I wouldn’t change this for anything.”
He has also had some contact with former Westlake High pitcher Dylan Volantis, the University of Texas ace who faced the same decision after graduating in 2024.
Dunwoody and Volantis both work out at Fearless Sports Performance in Westlake Village under Joey Hanley.
“I’ve talked to Dylan a little bit,” Dunwoody said. “He was saying either one is a good option, just kind of feel it out. There’s no bad decision.”
Dunwoody was responsible for 10 of Royal’s 24 wins as a senior, when much of the Highlanders’ pitching staff — including lefty Isiah Tillman, Dayne Peters and UCLA commit Colten Rainer — spent time on the shelf unavailable.
Although he disagreed with the notion that he carried a bigger workload as a senior.
“I had my starts and my starts were my starts,” Dunwoody said. “Other than that, I didn’t really have any other control. I would have pitched that deep into games either way.”
Although Dunwoody and fellow senior Dean Barkman combined to make 21 of Royal’s 28 starts.
Dunwoody credited sophomores Colton Dunwoody, his younger brother, and Cameron Sramek for adding depth to the pitching staff.
“That’s a testament to the younger guys in our program who stepped up and had a big role in our team, eating innings,” Dunwoody said. “I feel like every time someone went down, there was a next man up and that was a huge help to our team.”
Dunwoody recently rose from No. 485 in Baseball America’s MLB Draft rankings to No. 195. Jesse Burke of PSI Sports Management is his advisor.
As he waits to find out where he’ll throw his next competitive pitch, Dunwoody is currently is working out in preparation for his next step.
“I’m honestly not trying to change up too much,” Dunwoody said. “I’m keeping my routine of just working out.
“I’m just trying to build up strength and dial in all my pitches to where I feel comfortable with them.”
The Star’s All-County Baseball Second Team
Joe Curley covers baseball for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Royal’s Dusty Dunwoody is The Star’s Baseball Player of the Year
Reporting by Joe Curley, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Joe Curley, Ventura County Star | USA TODAY Network
