Timothy Dean Birtsas (born September 5, 1960 in Pontiac, Michigan), is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1985–1986 and from 1988–1990. Birtsas Was a member of the Nasty Boys, a dominant bullpen for the 1990 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds, along with Rob Dibble, Randy Myers, Norm Charlton and Tim Layana although he and Layana are rarely credited with being part of that championship group, and Birtsas did not actually appear in the World Series.

Birtsas was originally selected in the 2nd round of the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees. On December 5, 1984, he was traded by the New York Yankees with Jay Howell, Stan Javier, Eric Plunk, and Jose Rijo to the Oakland Athletics for Rickey Henderson, Bert Bradley, and cash.

Birtsas made his major league debut in May, 1985 for the A's. He won 10 games as a rookie for Oakland. The next season, though, he pitched in just two games in the majors, spending most of the season with the Class AAA Tacoma Tigers. In 1987, Birtsas spent the entire season in the minors, and after the season was traded to the Reds with Jose Rijo for Dave Parker. Birtsas played most of the next three seasons in Cincinnati, although he spent time at AAA in both 1988 and 1990. After the season, he was released by the Reds, and pitched in 1991 for the Yakult Swallows in Japan.

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Almanac

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