Loek Van Mil sure draws a lot attention, and I'm pretty sure it much of it has to do with the being as tall has he is.

Monday night I was talking to a couple of my fellow 'graphers at the Miracle game.  One asked me who I'd been talking to in the stands (Danny Santiesteban), and since we were on GCL, one of them had to ask about Van Mil.

So last night I took the shots I'd taken last Sunday to show him. 

The first comment had to do with his delivery and was he throwing off to the side as opposed to straight on.  Granted, there is a little bit of bend when he comes in off his throw, but it's no where near as exagerated as Brian Kirwin's is, something that does concern me with Kirwin as it almost looks like he's throwing across his body.  But honestly, I don't think Van Mil's is so pronounced that it's going to cause and health problems long term.

Besides, fixing the guy's mechanics is Ivan's job, not mine.

The second as that he hides the ball well, something that can be a problem with a tall pitcher.  I think overall his offensive delivery is not the problem.

Granted, I've not gone to watch drills this year, but I've heard that his defense needs work and that he's awkard while working through drills.  "Uncoordinated" was the word I'd heard, but then the Twins praise his athletism, so I'm not sure he's really uncoordinated.  I think it's more a matter of training his body to do the drills - and he's probably never done them before. 

All the first years look -- well, lost -- when they start doing those drills.  I remember a group a couple of years ago during pitchers and catchers camp that couldn't figure out to put the ball in the orange bucket after you'd tagged first base.  ::giggle::  And then there was the time Schoey was running down the bunt going "I got it, I got it..." overruns the ball and ends up with "I don't got it."  (I think maybe I need to go watch drills again.  I sort of miss it.)

But getting back to Van Mil, he throws consistantly in the low 90's, has a good mix of pitches and can bring in the high heat when he needs to.  So even without the height, which is a bonus, he'd still be a good pitching prospect.  Just not the source of interest he currently is. 

To prove the point, just this morning the new blog tracker Xanga kindly installed for me shows me I had people in from New York, Kentucky & Ireland (of all places) looking "Loek Van Mil" on google.  No one has come in looking for any of the other pitchers in camp (although someone came in that was googling Greg Yersich).

I just think it would be very nice if he was recognized for his qualities as a pitcher and not for his height.  I mean when the question came up Monday about him, my reponse was "Oh, I totally love him.  He's my buddy, he's such a sweetheart." And he is too.  Loek Van Nice Guy. All 7'1" worth of him.

However, I do have one comment to make on his height.  If he's the "little" brother, how tall is his "big" brother?

Yeah, he definately has captured the interest - and the imagination - of the baseball watching crowd.  Now the question remains as whether he'll be doing the capturing in Fort Myers, or Betsy in a couple of more weeks.