When James Guyette’s big league moment arrived Sunday morning, he couldn’t wait for the mall to open.
Drafted in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the San Diego Padres, the Newbury Park High graduate was one of the first customers of the day at the Lids store at the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks.
For the record, his first Padres hat is sized 7 3/8.
“I had to get one, at least,” Guyette said.
The Kansas State junior, drafted 157th overall, was the first of three local right-handed pitchers selected by Major League teams over the two-day draft.
UC Irvine junior Trevor Hansen, a Royal High graduate, was picked in the ninth round by the Los Angeles Angels.
USC commit Dusty Dunwoody, The Star’s Baseball Player of the Year this spring as a Royal High senior, was drafted in the 15th round by the Detroit Tigers.
Hansen knows he’s not the first Simi Valley product to be drafted by the Angels. He was part of the UC Irvine team that was playing at Long Beach State the day Jered Weaver’s number was retired.
He was excited to also be drafted by a Southern California team.
“I’m really happy it happened that way,” Hansen said. “I went to Irvine because I was far enough away to get the college experience of living on my own, but I was still an hour and a half away. My parents could come to all my home games. This sort of feels like the same thing.”
Hansen followed the draft at home in Simi Valley, surrounded by friends and family, including some former Royal High teammates.
Hansen said he was looking forward to playing golf in Arizona with Guyette, his former travel ball teammate. Both the Angels and Padres have spring training homes in Arizona.
Hansen and Dunwoody, who are both represented by PSI Sports, prepared for the draft together.
Dunwoody is the second local to be drafted by the Tigers in three years, joining former Moorpark High infielder John Peck.
Guyette, who is represented by VaynerSports, laughed when he recounted his predraft experience, which included meeting with most major league teams.
The Padres, conversely, were one of the few teams with which he didn’t meet.
“I thought that was funny that they were the one that came calling,” Guyette said.
He’s looking forward to getting to work on his development with the Padres.
“I feel like there’s always way I could be better,” Guyette said.
Guyette turned himself into a prospect over the past few seasons. He dropped his release to three quarters and found success as a two-pitch reliever.
After leading the team in relief appearances as a sophomore, Guyette earned an invitation to the 2025 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team camp.
“I had a good sophomore year,” Guyette said. “Going to Team USA, that was something I was looking forward to.”
Making the transition to starter as a junior this spring, he was tough for hitters to touch, striking out nearly 12 hitters per nine innings to finish in the top 40 in the nation.
He was 6-4 with a 5.56 ERA with 105 strikeouts in 79.1 innings.
Knowing he was going to be scouted by opposing hitters as a starter, Guyette made an effort to be unpredictable.
“Knowing people are going to have a plan of attack against me, I was trying to throw any pitch in any count,” Guyette said. “I kind of like pitching backwards.
“In a perfect world, I evenly spready out my fastball, slider and cutter.”
Growing up in Newbury Park, Guyette remembers wanting to quit baseball after a year. But he had so much fun playing Pony Baseball for a friend’s dad that he stuck with it.
“It was all about having fun,” Guyette said. “That was the reason I kept playing.”
He developing pitching for Ventura County Baseball Academy alongside Hansen and the SoCal Giants.
“I was just talking to Trevor a little bit,” Guyette said. “We played some travel ball together.”
Guyette had a 2.82 career ERA in three seasons pitching for head coach Curtis Scott at Newbury Park High, striking out 91 in 72 innings.
“He’s a great kid who has really progressed over the last years on the mound,” Scott said. “I’m very excited for him.”
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: Newbury Park’s Guyette among three local pitchers drafted by MLB teams
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
