7’1″ Loek Van Mil Starting to Get Off the Ground

For years, 7’1″ pitcher Loek Van Mil has intrigued prospect followers due to his height–which would make him easily the tallest big leaguer ever if he made it to the majors–and plus fastball/slider combination.

However, he remained more of a curiosity than a true prospect because he struggled to stay healthy. When he was able to take the mound, results were inconsistent, and a 6.37 ERA as a 25-year-old with the Twins’ Double-A team last year seemed to put much of the intrigue to rest.

That didn’t stop the Angels from putting in a waiver claim late last year when the Twins tried to take Van Mil off their 40-man roster. Now a year later, the pickup looks astute, as the hulking righthander has managed to stay healthy and finally get some solid results.

Now 26, Van Mil didn’t get off to a flashy start in his third crack at Double-A this year. He threw just one inning in April, and walked eight batters in nine May innings while striking out just four.

However, a solid June allowed Van Mil to end up with a 3.60 ERA and 18/11 K/BB in 25 pre-All Star Break innings–a meager accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless for a player who had almost never put up above-average statistics. Even when he was a notable prospect, Van Mil’s notoriety always rested on his size and stuff, not any sort of the dominance one would expect to result from that combination.

Since the All-Star Break, though, that’s finally started to change. Check out this statline: 38 1/3 IP, 26 H, 2 (!) ER, 0 HR, 9 BB, 27 K.

Certainly, he’s done a great job of late with eliminating hits, walks, homers, and earned runs in general. But the most significant number in that line could well be the first one–he’s now thrown 63 1/3 innings this season, which is easily a career high. In fact, his post-break innings total is just 6 1/3 off his career season high for innings pitched.

Since his results are finally starting to get in line with what a pitcher with this grade of talent is capable of, there’s still hope that the huge Dutchman can become the first 7-footer in big league history. I wouldn’t be completely shocked if he actually gets a look in September–at age 26, it’s not like he’s nascent. In any case, it’ll definitely be interesting to see what Van Mil can do to follow up or build on his breakthrough.

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