With great sadness, the Dutch baseball world has learned of the passing of Dutch pitcher Loek van Mil. The tall Dutchman passed away at the age of 34 as the result of a fatal accident.
The pitcher who made 48 appearances for the Dutch national team announced his retirement a few days ago because he did not feel wholesome.
Loek had an extensive career in the international baseball world. Not only did he play in the minor leagues, he also played in Japan, mostly at the Ni-Gun (minor league) but also in the NPB with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He also played a couple of seasons in Australia, mostly with the Adelaide Bite, but last season he jumped ships to the Brisbane Bandits.
Van Mil played (parts of ) nine seasons in the minor leagues in which he made it up to AAA. In this nine year MiLB career, he posted a 3.48 ERA and earned 17 saves in 34 opportunities.
In the ABL, Loek pitched four seasons. The closer spent time with the Adelaide Bite in the 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018 seasons. Last season (2018/2019) Van Mil pitched for the Brisbane Bandits. During that season, Loek was lost at some point. Later he was found in the Australian outback as he suffered from a hiking accident. Eventually he was discharged from the hospital and even pitched a few games for the Bandits before the end of the season.
Back in the Netherlands, Loek did not play for his club Curaçao Neptunus in 2019 anymore. A few days ago, Loek announced his retirement.
The KNBSB (the Dutch baseball and softball federation), who released the news about Van Mil’s passing, doesn’t give any further information about the circumstances at the request of the family.
The Dutch Baseball Hangout would like to wish the family a lot of strength.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 