A’s Place Norberto on the Disabled List; Recall Doolittle from Sacramento

The Oakland A’s placed left-handed pitcher Jordan Norberto on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 31 with a strained left shoulder, the club announced today.  To take his spot on the roster, the A’s have recalled left-handed pitcher Sean Doolittle from Triple-A Sacramento.

Norberto was 0-1 with a save and a 3.91 ERA in 21 relief appearances with the A’s.  He posted a 3.00 ERA and .140 opponents batting average in 13 games in May after logging a 5.23 ERA and .243 opponents average in eight appearances in April.  Norberto has allowed a .184 batting average overall, including .095 against first batters faced.

Doolittle combined to post a 0.72 ERA in 16 relief appearances with Single-A Stockton, Double-A Midland and Triple-A Sacramento and will be making his Major League debut.  He allowed a .091 opponents batting average, including .085 (5 for 59) by right-handed hitters and .107 (3 for 28) by left-handers.  The 25-year-old left-hander did not allow a home run in 25.0 innings and struck out 48 batters, an average of 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings.  He began the year at Stockton, was promoted to Midland April 26 and Sacramento May 27.

Doolittle was originally drafted by the A’s as a compensation pick following the first round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.  He began his career as a first base baseman and hit .272 with 30 home runs and 138 RBI in 233 games over three seasons from 2007-09.  Knee injuries limited him to 28 games in 2009, no games in 2010 and one game last year.  While on the disabled list last year, he began to work out as a pitcher and made his professional debut on the mound for the A’s affiliate in the Arizona Rookie League on Aug. 29 (1.0 ip, 1 r, 1 er, 1 bb, 2 so).

The complete 2012 statistics for Doolittle follow: