A's place Sean Doolittle on disabled list

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The A's placed left-handed pitcher Sean Doolittle on the 10-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain, retroactive to April 30, and designated right-handed pitcher César Valdez for assignment, the club announced today. To replace them on the roster, right-handed pitcher Bobby Wahl was recalled and right-handed pitcher Josh Smith was selected from Triple-A Nashville.

Doolittle has notched one save over nine games for the A’s this season, allowing three runs in 7.2 innings for a 3.52 ERA. Left-handed hitters are 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts against him, and he has posted an 11-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Doolittle missed 59 games last season with a similar injury and 121 games in 2015 with two different shoulder injuries.

Valdez had appeared in four games (one start) over two stints in his first big league action since 2010. He allowed three earned runs over his first 5.1 innings pitched but seven earned runs—and four home runs—in his last four innings.

Wahl’s first appearance with the A’s will be his Major League debut. A fifth-round draft pick of the A’s in 2013 out of Ole Miss, Wahl is 0-1 with three saves and a 1.93 ERA in eight games with Nashville this season. He has 27 career saves in four-plus minor league seasons. Last season, he combined to go 1-1 with 14 saves and a 2.65 ERA across three levels (Stockton, Midland, Nashville).

Smith was a non-roster invitee to Major League camp this spring, and appeared in five games for the A’s during spring training. He went 1-0 with a save, allowing five runs over five outings. However, in four of his five appearances he allowed no runs and no hits. This year with Nashville, he is 2-0 with a 3.29 ERA, but has not allowed a run over his last seven outings and 11.0 innings pitched. He is holding opponents to a .146 batting average.

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