Oakland Athletics: Sean Doolittle to Begin Rehab Assignment

The Oakland Athletics have been without left-hander Sean Doolittle for nearly two months. Doolittle is working his way back, as the team announced he will begin a rehab stint next week.

The 2016 season has been tough for the Oakland Athletics. They’ve dealt with injuries and traded a few of their well-known players. They are also in a division with perhaps the best team in the American League, the Texas Rangers.

But Oakland did get a bit of good news on Saturday.

The team announced that Sean Doolittle is set to begin a rehab stint with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds. Doolittle has missed significant time with a left shoulder strain. Doolittle will join Nashville on Monday, which, if all goes well, could set him up to join the Athletics in the next ten days.

According to MLB.com, Oakland’s plan is to have Doolittle pitch on Monday. It will be the first of three scheduled appearances for Doolittle. He will also pitch on Wednesday and Saturday, and barring any unforeseen setbacks, Doolittle could join the A’s by August 22.

Doolittle has pitched in just 35 games this season due to his shoulder injury. He last pitched for the Athletics on June 25, against the Los Angeles Angels. However, on Saturday, Doolittle made significant progress, as he faced live hitters for the first time. The outing went well, which prompted the A’s to move forward with Doolittle’s rehab stint.

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“He was all for it,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told MLB.com regarding Doolittle. “He’s a hard-working guy and he’s honest too. If we didn’t feel like after his bullpen that he felt great, then we wouldn’t do this.”

Melvin’s comments show that the time appears to be right to put Doolittle back on the mound. Oakland is out of the playoff picture this season, so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to use Doolittle unless he was absolutely healthy.

Doolittle’s best season since converting from a first baseman to a pitcher was 2014, when he saved 22 games for Oakland, and earned an All Star nod. However, he has battled injuries since, and the A’s added Ryan Madson to the bullpen, which largely changed Doolittle’s role.

This year, Doolittle has a 2.93 ERA in his 35 appearances. Doolittle has a walk rate of 6.6 percent, and a strikeout rate of 28.9 percent. When he is healthy, Doolittle is one of Oakland’s more effective bullpen arms, as he has proven in the past. But the past two years have been tough for Doolittle injury-wise.

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Doolittle appeared in just 12 games in 2015, as he dealt with a shoulder injury and multiple stints on the disabled list. This year, his shoulder flared up again, which has kept him out since June. As long as this rehab stint goes well for Doolittle, he should be set to re-join the Athletics bullpen for the first time in nearly eight weeks.