The Los Angeles Angels acquired the tallest player in professional baseball in the trade that sent reliever Brian Fuentes to the Minnesota Twins last week.
Loek Van Mil, a 7-foot-1 native of Holland, was announced Wednesday as the player to be named later from the July 25 trade. Van Mil will report to Double-A Arkansas. He was 1-2 with a 6.37 ERA in 23 relief appearances for the Twins' Double-A club, the New Britain Rock Cats.
A native of Oss, Netherlands, Van Mil was signed as a free agent in 2005. He pitched for the Netherlands in the 2007 Baseball World Cup and was selected to play for his country in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but sat out because of an injury.
If Van Mil reaches the major leagues, he would be the tallest player in major league history. Twins pitcher Jon Rauch (6-11) currently holds the distinction. The shortest player in big league history is Eddie Gaedel (3-7), who played one game in a publicity stunt for the St. Louis Browns in 1951.
Mark Saxon covers the Angels for ESPNLosAngeles.com.