On Sunday afternoon 19-year-old Dustin May made his debut with the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League against the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels).

The 6’6”/180-pound native of Justin, Texas was selected by the Dodgers in the third round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Northwest High School in his hometown of Justin.

May, who is currently ranked 15th on the Dodgers top 30 prospects list by MLBpipeline.com, began his professional career in 2016 with the Arizona League Dodgers. In 10 appearances over 30.1 innings he posted a 3.86 ERA while striking out 34 and walking only four. His strikeouts to nine innings pitched ratio was 10.1 while his walk ratio was 1.2 per nine innings.

With the Great Lakes Loons in 2017 he has pretty much stayed the course. The right-hander was 9-6 with a 3.88 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 23 starts this year while striking out 113 and walking 26 in 123 innings pitched. His strikeouts to nine innings pitched ratio was 8.3 while his walk ratio per nine innings has increased only minimally to 1.9.

As the year progressed, May was stretched out by his coaches in Great Lakes. In his last three starts with the Loons he pitched a total of 22 innings, recording three wins, while allowing only five earned runs. He struck out 15 and walked two. In his last two appearances, he approached 100 pitches on both occasions, throwing 98 and 97 pitches respectively.

Armed with a mid-nineties fastball and a curveball made more effective by his high spin rate, plus a fledgling changeup, May earned a promotion to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on August 26 along with teammate right-hander Chris Mathewson.

May’s debut with the Quakes also went pretty much as expected. He tossed six innings following a one inning rehab appearance by Dodgers left-handed reliever Adam Liberatore. He gave up five hits and three runs, only one of them earned. Two unearned runs came in on a triple by 66er’s third baseman Jake Yacinich, the only extra base hit allowed by the young right-hander. May struck out seven – matching his season high with the Loons – issued no walks, and induced nine ground ball outs. He threw 85 pitches, 60 of them for strikes.

May left the game tied at three and the Quakes failed to score in the bottom of the seventh inning denying him any chance of securing a win in his California League debut.

Dustin May struck out seven Inland Empire batters in his Cal League debut on Sunday afternoon at LoanMart Field. His career high is nine, which he accomplished on May 20, 2017 while with the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons. (Photo credit – Steve Saenz)

The Quakes appeared headed for defeat on a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning by Inland Empire’s catcher Michael Barash.

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the inning, they forced extra innings as outfielder Zach Reks reached base on a wild pitch strikeout. He was driven home on a ringing double by fellow outfielder Luke Raley to center field.

The Quakes gave up three runs in the top of the 10th inning in the eventual 7-4 loss to the second place 66ers. Their magic number to clinch a second-half Cal League playoff berth remains at two.