Timothy John Tawa (born April 7, 1999) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2025.

Amateur career

Tawa attended West Linn High School in

West Linn, Oregon West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, Oregon, Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn ...

. He played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and set Oregon state records with 11,337

passing yards The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see '' Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

, 143 touchdown passes and 714 completions. As a senior, he won a state championship over Central Catholic High School. He shared a backfield with

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Elijah Molden Elijah Monroe Molden (born January 30, 1999) is an American professional football safety for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). In 2024, Molden played multiple defensive back positions at safety, cornerback, and as a ...

. Alex Forsyth was an offensive lineman for Tawa throughout their youth and high school football careers. His head coach at West Linn was Chris Miller. Tawa was named

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

's Player of the Year in Oregon for football three times and in baseball one time. He was also named the

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is currently owned by PlayOn. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including boys, girls, and co-ed sports. ...

Male High School Athlete of the Year. Tawa attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

. He chose to play only baseball in college because he liked the sport more than football and he felt he was "more projectable" as a professional baseball player. In 2019, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Falmouth Commodores The Falmouth Commodores are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Commodores play their home games at Arnie All ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Professional career

The

selected Tawa in the 11th round, with the 318th overall selection, of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was s ...

. He split his first professional season between the rookie–level

Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks The Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team competing as a Rookie-level affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Salt River Fields a ...

and Single–A

Visalia Rawhide The Visalia Rawhide are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Visalia, California, and have played their home games at Valley Strong Ballpark since their ...

, hitting .269 with six home runs, 22 RBI, and 14 stolen bases across 38 total games. Tawa spent the 2022 season with the High–A

Hillsboro Hops The Hillsboro Hops are a Minor League Baseball team in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, a city in the Portland metropolitan area. The Hops are members of the Northwest League and are the High-A affilia ...

and Double–A

Amarillo Sod Poodles The Amarillo Sod Poodles, nicknamed the Soddies, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Amarillo, Texas, and play their home games at Hodgetown in downtow ...

, accumulating a .239/.331/.369 batting line with 13 home runs, 53 RBI, and 11 stolen bases over 118 appearances. He returned to Amarillo in 2023, playing in 116 games and hitting .256/.338/.461 with 22 home runs, 75 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. Tawa split the 2024 campaign between Double–A Amarillo and the Triple–A

Reno Aces The Reno Aces are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Reno, Nevada, and play their home games at Greater Nevada Field, w ...

, slashing .279/.349/.519 with 31 home runs, 90 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. On November 19, 2024, the Diamondbacks added Tawa to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. The Diamondbacks optioned Tawa to Triple-A Reno to begin the 2025 season. On April 5, 2025, Tawa was promoted to the major leagues for the first time following an injury to

Ketel Marte Ketel Ricardo Marte Valdez (born October 12, 1993) is a Dominican professional baseball second baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Seattle Mariners. Marte made his MLB debut with the ...

. He made his MLB debut that day against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

, and recorded his first career hit.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tawa, Tim 1999 births Living people Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks players Arizona Diamondbacks players Amarillo Sod Poodles players Baseball players from Clackamas County, Oregon Falmouth Commodores players Hillsboro Hops players Major League Baseball second basemen Newport Gulls players People from West Linn, Oregon Reno Aces players Stanford Cardinal baseball players Visalia Rawhide players