Early this morning Israel defeated the Netherlands in World Baseball Classic play 4-2. That puts Israel at a perfect 3-0 heading into the second round of the WBC, where they will now face either Japan or the winner of the Cuba versus Australia game in the second round.
While the game itself was the key attraction for WBC devotees, one particular at bat in the game was the highlight for gawkers like us. The matchup: pitcher the Dutch team’s Loek Van Mil, who has spent a decade bouncing around the minor leagues, primarily in the Twins organization, vs. Team Israel’s Nate Freiman, the former Oakland Athletic and minor league veteran. Van Mil is 7'1" and Freiman is 6'8". They faced off in the eighth inning of this game.
It looked like this:
[mlbvideo id="1233573983" width="600" height="336" /]
While the walk to Freiman was somewhat anti-climatic, this is thought to be the tallest batter-pitcher matchup in baseball history.