I am sure that most of the bloggers on TwinkieTown have read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Anybody remember the second book in LOTR: The Two Towers?  Also, I am sure we all remember the famous World Trade Center Steel Behemoths: The Twin Towers.  Well, as I surfed around on several Twins sites today, I came across the Twins Towers.

More after the jump....

Loek van Mil, standing at 7'1", could possibly become the tallest pitcher to ever play in the Major Leagues.  However, at the present time, the Twins already have the tallest pitcher in the big leagues: Jon Rauch.

Rauch, standing at 6'11", still looks up to van Mil, even though it is a mere two inches that separate the height of these two colossal pitchers.  As a matter of fact, Rauch and Van Mill's lockers are very near each other in the clubhouse down in Florida.

Naturally, these two pitchers have quickly become acquainted, how could they not?  Rauch even offered to help van Mil with mechanics: 

"Not that you’ll ever need it, but if you ever have any questions about mechanics, or whatever, let me know," Rauch said to van Mil before asking about his belt size.

Now, one would think that a pitcher standing at 7'1" would be able to muster enough torque to put about 120 MPH on the ball when delivering to home plate.  However, van Mil has only been able to get his fastball up to about 99 MPH, but consistently hits 95 on the gun.

Loek van Mil has a nice minor league career going for him, with low ERAs and BAA, but generally has a bad BB/K ratio.  If van Mil shows more control this spring, Twins fans could possibly come to know the Rauch/Mil combo as the Twins Towers.  More than likely, however, van Mil will start in the minors, but possibly could be called up mid-season, especially if he manages to control his pitches and cut down on the number of walks.

Hopefully, van Mil will be in the bullpen with the Twins in 2011, and we all will hope that the Twins retain Rauch for at least one more year, so that the Twins Towers will forever live in Twins memory as the tallest double combo in Major League history.  

*Also, this spring, Rauch and van Mil could work on ball control; this way, after day games at Target Field, the Twins Towers just head across the parking lot to Target Center to play for the Timberwolves - (imagine those blocked shots and tip-toe dunks!)

**One ball to rule them all, One ball to miss them, One ball to bring them all, And on the bench - bind them!