Loek van Mil

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Loek van Mil
L van mil20140913.jpg
van Mil with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Pitcher
Born:(1984-09-15)15 September 1984
Oss, Netherlands
Died: 28 July 2019(2019-07-28) (aged 34)
Canberra, Australia [1]
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
NPB debut
14 September, 2014, for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Last NPB appearance
7 October, 2014, for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Men's Baseball
Representing Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
European Baseball Championship
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2012 Rotterdam National team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Hoofddorp National team
Haarlem Baseball Week
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Haarlem National team
World Port Tournament
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2015 Netherlands National team
France International Baseball Tournament  [ fr ]
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Sénart  [ fr ] National team

Ludovicus Jacobus Maria "Loek" van Mil (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlukfɑˈmɪl] ; 15 September 1984 – 28 July 2019) was a Dutch professional baseball pitcher. At the height of 7 feet 1 inch (2.16 m), he is one of the tallest people to play professional baseball. He pitched for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He also played in Minor League Baseball for affiliates of the Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels, Cleveland, and Cincinnati Reds. He also pitched in professional leagues in the Netherlands and Australia.

Contents

van Mil pitched for the Netherlands national baseball team in international competitions, serving as the team's closer in the 2013 World Baseball Classic and the 2015 Premier 12. He also appeared in the 2007 Baseball World Cup and 2017 World Baseball Classic. He missed the 2008 Summer Olympics due to injury.

van Mil died in 2019, several months after suffering a serious accident while hiking alone in Australia.

Early life

van Mil competed in judo from ages 4 through 7. When his mother encouraged him to join a team sport, he chose to play baseball, as he had played a similar game in school. [2] [3]

van Mil reached the height of 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at age 12, and grew to 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) by 14 and 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) at the age of 15. [2] He played catcher until he became too tall to for the position and shifted to first base. At the age of 17, a coach decided to try van Mil as a pitcher due to his strong throwing arm. [3]

Professional career

van Mil with the New Britain Rock Cats in 2009 VanMil2009.jpg
van Mil with the New Britain Rock Cats in 2009

HCAW

van Mil made his professional debut with Dutch Honkbal Hoofdklasse club HCAW in 2005, with a 2–3 record and 5.26 ERA in 51+1⁄3 innings in the league. [4] [5] He also pitched in the European Champions Cup in Rotterdam. He pitched briefly for HCAW in 2006, as well. [6] [7]

Minnesota Twins

van Mil signed as an undrafted free agent on 7 July 2005, with the Minnesota Twins. [8] He first pitched in the United States in 2006 with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Twins. [9] He had a 1–2 record, with a 3.30 ERA in 10 games, eight of them starts. In 2007, he had a 2–2 record, with a 2.63 ERA in 13 relief appearances for the Elizabethton Twins of the Rookie-level Appalachian League He walked 17 batters and struck out 23 batters in 24 innings. [10]

van Mil pitched for the Beloit Snappers of the Class A Midwest League in 2008. He had a 2–2 record with 3 saves and a 3.22 ERA and 42 strikeouts in his first 44+2⁄3 innings, making the Midwest League All-Star game. He suffered a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm while preparing for participation in the 2008 Summer Olympics and missed the first seven weeks of the 2009 season while rehabilitating. van Mil began his 2009 season in late May with the Fort Myers Miracle, playing in the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. In August, he was promoted to the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats. He finished the season with a 1–1 record and a 2.79 ERA in 42 games between the two clubs, 25 games out of the bullpen with Fort Myers with a 2.86 ERA and another 8 games with New Britain for a 2.45 ERA. [11] [10] On 20 November 2009, he was added to the Twins' 40-man roster. [12]

van Mil began the 2010 season with Fort Myers. He was designated for assignment by the Twins to open a roster spot for newly acquired Brian Fuentes on 27 August 2010. [13]

Los Angeles Angels

van Mil was announced as the player to be named later going to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the Brian Fuentes trade on 1 September 2010. [14] [15] van Mil was on the Angels' 40-man roster for one day before being optioned down to the Double-A Arkansas Travelers. He pitched just one inning the remainder of the season. [6] [16]

With the Travelers in 2011, van Mil had a 3–5 record and 2.04 ERA in 66+1⁄3 innings across 30 games. He began the 2012 season with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, [3] where he had a 1–0 record and 6.30 ERA in 8 games out of the bullpen. [17]

Cleveland Indians

On 5 May 2012, the Angels traded van Mil to the Cleveland Indians for future considerations. [18] [19] The Indians assigned him to the Akron Aeros of the Double-A Eastern League. [17] In August, he was promoted to the Triple-A Columbus Clippers. With three teams in 2012, van Mil pitched in 41 games, with a 2–1 record, 3.20 ERA, 49 strikeouts, and 23 walks in 64+2⁄3 innings. [10] He elected free agency on 2 November. [16]

Cincinnati Reds

van Mil signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds on 14 December 2012. [16] He pitched in 48 games for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos, posting an 0–9 record, 3.38 ERA, and 8 saves. He finished the season pitching three times for the Triple-A Louisville Bats. [10]

Rakuten Golden Eagles

van Mil signed a one-year deal with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball in early 2014. [20] He spent most of the year with Rakuten's farm team. [21] He pitched 8+2⁄3 innings over seven games for the Golden Eagles, with a 4.15 ERA. [10]

Neptunus

In March 2015, van Mil agreed to a one-year contract with Neptunus in the Dutch Honkbal Hoofdklasse. [21] van Mil was also named to Team Europe's roster for the 2015 Global Baseball Matchup against Japan. [22]

Minnesota Twins (second stint)

On 29 July 2015, he re-signed with the Minnesota Twins. [16] van Mil pitched for the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, debuting on 2 September 2015 with 2 scoreless innings in relief in his first action stateside since 2013. [23] He had two more scoreless appearances for the Red Wings in 2015. [24] [25]

van Mil started the 2016 season in Rochester, but his performance was notably worse. On 10 April, he gave up four runs in 1+2⁄3 innings with a strikeout against Pawtucket. [26] On 25 April 2016, he was released by the Twins. van Mil had allowed 15 runs (14 earned) in 5+1⁄3 innings over his five appearances, including one start, with Rochester. [27] [10]

Dutch and Australian leagues

After the 2015 minor league season, van Mil pitched for Neptunus in the Hoofdklasse playoffs [27] He then played winter league baseball in the Australian Baseball League with the Adelaide Bite, losing in the Claxton Shield championship series in early 2016. [28]

After he was released by Minnesota in April 2016, van Mil returned to Neptunus. [27] He again played winter baseball with Adelaide. [29]

van Mil's 2017 Hoofdklasse season started late due to a back injury he suffered during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. [30] Serving as the closer for Neptunus, he won the European Championship Cup and Holland Series, being named the MVP of the Holland Series. [31]

van Mil played with the Brisbane Bandits for the 2018–19 Australian season, winning the Claxton Shield but also suffering a head injury while hiking. [32]

International career

van Mil pitched the Netherlands national team in 48 games, beginning with the 2007 Baseball World Cup. [33] He earned 1 win and 2 saves with a 0.71 ERA as the Dutch finished fourth in the World Cup. [3] [34]

van Mil was selected for in the 2008 Summer Olympics. [35] However, he partially tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow during training in Beijing and did not pitch in the tournament. [36]

van Mil pitched in the 2013 World Baseball Classic and 2017 World Baseball Classic. [37] In 2013, he pitched four scoreless innings over four games, earning one win and one save. [38] In what may be the tallest batter-pitcher matchup in baseball history, the 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) van Mil walked 6-foot-8-inch (2.03 m) Nate Freiman of Israel in a game on 9 March 2017. [39] [40] van Mil suffered a back injury during the 2017 tournament. [30] He again allowed no earned runs in the tournament, though he took the loss in the semifinal against Puerto Rico after giving up a sacrifice bunt and walk-off sacrifice fly to score an inherited runner. [41] [42]

Scouting report

van Mil threw a fastball that averaged 95 miles per hour (153 km/h), [43] which had been recorded as fast as 99 miles per hour (159 km/h). [2] [44] He also threw a slider and a changeup. [45] [46] [47]

van Mil was 7-foot-1-inch (2.16 m) and weighed 240 pounds (110 kg). He was one of the tallest players in the history of professional baseball, along with former Minor League Baseball reliever Ryan Doherty. [48] His height provided an advantage, because his release point when pitching was closer to hitters, giving them less time to react. [2]

Accident and death

During a December 2018 series against the Canberra Cavalry, van Mil went bushwalking without his teammates near Canberra. [49] [50] During his hike, he slipped and hit his head on rocks. He was unconscious for approximately 24 hours before kangaroos woke him up. He attracted the attention of another hiker, who drove him to a hospital. van Mil was diagnosed with 14 fractures, a ruptured eardrum, and bleeding on the brain. He was cleared to return to baseball in January 2019, in time to help Brisbane win the 2019 Claxton Shield. [32] [51]

van Mil died on 28 July 2019, with a statement from the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation attributing his death to a fatal accident. [48] [33] One week earlier, he had announced his retirement from baseball to focus on his recovery. [52] [53]

References

  1. ↑ Gleeson, Scott (29 July 2019). "Loek van Mil, one of tallest baseball players ever at 7-foot-1, dies from 'fatal accident'". USA Today.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rock, Brad. "New Bees pitcher Loek van Mil is intimidating presence". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Renzhofer, Martin (12 April 2012). "Salt Lake Bees: Pitcher Loek van Mil stands tall on the mound". The Salt Lake Tribune . Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "Baseball Leaders 2005". Grand Slam Stats & News. 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 30 December 2006.
  5. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (21 January 2006). "Baseball Preview 2006 Mr. Cocker HCAW". Grand Slam Stats & News. Archived from the original on 8 September 2007.
  6. 1 2 Stoovelaar, Marco (6 September 2010). "Loek van Mil traded to Angels". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  7. ↑ "Werper Van Mil tekent profcontract" [Pitcher Van Mil signs professional contract]. www.honkbalsitearchief.nl (in Dutch). 8 July 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  8. ↑ "Major League Transaction Impacts Rock Cats' Roster". MiLB.com. 28 August 2010. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Twins think big with this rookie". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Star Tribune. 15 March 2006. pp. 2C. Retrieved 8 May 2012– via Google News Archive.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Loek van Mil Minor & Japanese Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  11. ↑ Smith, Kelsie (3 March 2010). "7-foot-1 Loek van Mil has grown into quite a pitching prospect for Minnesota Twins". Pioneer Press . Archived from the original on 7 March 2010. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  12. ↑ "Twins add six to fill out 40-man roster". Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  13. ↑ Neal III, La Velle E. (27 August 2010). "Twins trade for lefthander Brian Fuentes". Star Tribune . Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  14. ↑ Gleeman, Aaron (1 September 2010). "Twins send Loek Van Mil to Angels to complete Fuentes trade. He ranked 39th on my prospect list, but has had a miserable season. Good move". Twitter.com. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  15. ↑ Christensen, Joe. "Twins send Van Mil to Angels completing Fuentes trade". Star Tribune . Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Loek Van Mil Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News". MLB.com. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  17. 1 2 Meisel, Zack (5 May 2012). "Indians acquire 7-foot pitcher from Angels". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  18. ↑ "Angels trade 7-foot-1 Van Mil to Indians". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  19. ↑ van Zon, Rogier (6 May 2012). "Van Mil vervolgt carrière bij Indians" [van Mil continues career with Indians]. Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  20. ↑ Adams, Steve (3 March 2014). "Minor Moves: Chris Jones, Loek Van Mil, Sergio Mitre". MLB Trade Rumors. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  21. 1 2 "Loek van Mil back in Netherlands, to play in Rotterdam". Mister Baseball. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "Roster for Team Europe for Global Baseball Match vs Japan announced – Asics sponsors Europe". Mister Baseball. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  23. ↑ "Twins Minor League Report (9/2): Hicks! - Articles - Articles - Articles - Twins Daily". Archived from the original on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  24. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (6 September 2015). "Loek van Mil makes comeback in professional baseball". Grand Slam Stats & News Netherlands. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  25. ↑ "Loek Van Mil - 2015 Pitching Game Logs". FanGraphs . Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  26. ↑ Christie, Cody (19 April 2016). "Twins Minor League Report (4/19): Gonsalves Keeps Rolling". North Dakota Twins Fan: A Minnesota Twins Blog. Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  27. 1 2 3 Stoovelaar, Marco (7 May 2016). "Yntema No-Hits Pioniers; Van Mil back in Rotterdam". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  28. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (6 February 2016). "Brisbane wins Australian title; Van Mil's season 'down-under' ends". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  29. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (5 February 2017). "Season ends for Van Mil & Nooij; Brisbane in Australian Final". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  30. 1 2 Stoovelaar, Marco (17 June 2017). "Neptunus outscores Twins; Van Mil makes comeback on mound". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  31. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (10 October 2017). "Neptunus captures fifth consecutive title with comeback-victory". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  32. 1 2 Monagan, Matt (4 February 2019). "How Loek Van Mil, tallest player in the world, survived a horrific Australian hiking ordeal to win an ABL title". MLB.com . Major League Baseball . Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  33. 1 2 "Loek van Mil overleden". KNBSB (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  34. ↑ "2007 Line Scores Baseball Taiwan - Nederland 2-3". Grand Slam Stats & News. 3 November 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  35. ↑ Dutch Olympic Baseball squad 2008 Archived 4 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine , knbsb.nl, ret: 5 August 2008
  36. ↑ Nystrom, Thor (11 August 2008). "Twins' Van Mil injured at Olympics". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  37. ↑ "Team Kingdom of the Netherlands". EK Honkbal 2016. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  38. ↑ "World Baseball Classic Stats | Pitching | Netherlands | 2013". MLB.com. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  39. ↑ "NED@ISR: Tallest pitcher-batter matchup ever?". MLB.com. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  40. ↑ Calcaterra, Craig (9 March 2017). "Video: 7' 1" vs. 6 '8" — the tallest pitcher-batter matchup ever". Hardball Talk. NBC Sports. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  41. ↑ "World Baseball Classic Stats | Pitching | Netherlands | 2017". MLB.com. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  42. ↑ Miller, Doug (21 March 2017). "Unbeaten PR walks off vs. Netherlands to final". MLB.com. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  43. ↑ Heyman, Jon (5 March 2011). "Halos' 7-footer Van Mil's run at MLB history no longer a tall order". Sports Illustrated . Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  44. ↑ Langford, Richard (24 February 2011). "Loek van Mil: 7'1" Angels Pitcher Looks to Become Tallest Major Leaguer". Bleacher Report . Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  45. ↑ Miller, Scott (7 March 2017). "Loek van Mil: The 7'1" Pitching Giant Still Trying to Get His Big Break". Bleacher Report . Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  46. ↑ Hulet, Marc (23 October 2009). "A Minor Review of 2009: Minnesota Twins". FanGraphs Baseball. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  47. ↑ "Statistics: Loek Van Mil". MiLB.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  48. 1 2 Goldstein, Joelle (29 July 2019). "MLB Pitcher Loek van Mil, Known as the World's Tallest Professional Baseball Player, Dies at 34". People Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019. At 7'1", van Mil also was one of the tallest pitchers in the baseball history, tying with former Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Ryan Doherty, according to Sports Illustrated.
  49. ↑ "Dutch baseballer Loek van Mil gets lost while hiking and suffers horror injuries near Canberra". News.com.au . 11 December 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  50. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (10 December 2018). "Loek van Mil hospitalized in critical condition in Australia". Grand Slam Stats & News Netherlands. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  51. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (2 February 2019). "Brisbane Bandits captures fourth straight Australian title; First for Loek van Mil". Grand Slam Stats & News Netherlands. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  52. ↑ "Aussie baseball rocked by tragic death of 34-year-old star". Yahoo Sports . 30 July 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  53. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco (29 July 2019). "Netherlands Team and Neptunus-pitcher Loek van Mil passed away unexpectedly". Grand Slam Stats & News. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
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