It’s been an eventful year for United South Central senior-to-be A.J. Dreyer, and his summer has made it better.

Dreyer, a 6-foot-2, 235 pound, beast of a young man, turned in a surprising sixth-place finish at the state wrestling meet during the winter and has carried the momentum of that success into a strong baseball season.

“All of it’s been a lot of fun,” Dreyer said. “It’s been a good year.”

Dreyer, a catcher, was invited to the 2009 Gopher Classic Junior Showcase last week in Minnetonka where he faced many of the state’s best seniors-to-be. Players were nominated by their coach and selected from a panel of high school coaches, college coaches and professional scouts. Last season 40 college scouts and 10 college scouts attended the showcase.

As nice as that was he followed that up with a surprise letter from a Minnesota Twins scout inviting him to participate in an invitation-only tryout for the Twins at the Metrodome.

Dreyer will make the trip to the Dome July 23 to compete against 100 different ball players from across the five-state area. Though the chances of making the Twins are slim to nil, the prospect of attracting the attention of a college scout looms large.

“It’s good to get my name out and perform in front of college scouts ahead of time,” Dreyer said.

Dreyer received a letter in the mail from a scout in Lindstrom asking him to make the trip up to the Cities for a tryout.

“I was surprised,” Dreyer said. “He asked me if I wanted to come up to the Twins for a game.”

Some where along the way this past season Dreyer drew some one’s attention, something that has likely become a more frequent occurrence lately.

“One thing A.J. has that makes him a good ballplayer is that he is a big mature kid,” said his high school head coach Pat Frank.

Dreyer would like to play at the college level and two schools have expressed early interest after his junior season where he hit .373 with five home runs and drove in 36 runs.

Dreyer has used this summer to get stronger, work on his swing and become a more complete player. He’s working out three times a week and often more and taking plenty of cuts in the cage with Frank. Dreyer’s working this summer as a hired hand on a farm as well, so his free time is sparse, but devoted to becoming stronger.

“He’s got the tools and the athletic ability of a 30-year-old,” said USC head coach Pat Frank. “He just needs to get the mental part of the game.”

The mental part is often the biggest hurdle for young players to overcome, Frank said, and once Dreyer can figure out the finer points of the game he will continue to impress.

“He’s man in a kid’s mindset yet,” Frank said.

The scary part might be Dreyer is just entering his senior season this fall. Given the time he’s spent this summer in the cage refining his swing he could be poised for an outstanding senior season with many more accolades coming his way.

“The biggest thing is he wants to improve,” Frank said.