Loek van Mil, who pitched parts of six seasons in the Twins system and at 7-foot-1 was the tallest player in professional baseball history, has died at age 34.
A native of the Netherlands, van Mil got as far as Class AAA Rochester with the Twins. He was also in the Angels, Indians and Reds systems, and was last played professionally in Australia.
The Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation announced that he died "due to the consequences of a fatal accident."
In December, van Mil suffered multiple head injuries during a hiking accident in Australia, according to MLB.com. But he returned in January to pitch in the Australian Baseball league.
The Twins traded van Mil, who at one time was on their 40-man roster, to the Giants in 2010 at the deadline for reliever Brian Fuentes, then re-signed him to pitch in 2015. Van Mil, who also played for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, was pestered by arm trouble during his career in the Twins system.
