Athletics announce initial September call-ups: Burns, Anderson, Rodriguez promoted; Lowrie and Dunn activated

The Oakland Athletics announced that five players will be activated for the September 1 game against the Seattle Mariners. Speedy outfielder Billy Burns, left-handed batting catcher Bryan Anderson, right-handed reliever Fernando Rodriguez were the Triple-A regulars promoted. Jed Lowrie is activated from the disabled list and Adam Dunn reports to Oakland today. Nate Freiman and Drew Pomeranz, assigned to Class A Beloit, are eligible to be activated on September 2 after the conclusion of Beloit's season today.

The #Athletics lineup for today's 1:05 p.m. game against the Mariners. #GreenCollar pic.twitter.com/Elxp3Mypll

— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) September 1, 2014

Outfielder Billy Burns brings great speed, exemplified by scoring on this sacrifice fly from second base:

The A's acquired the left-handed batting catcher Bryan Anderson from the Cincinnati Reds on a cash deal on the same day it acquired Geovany Soto from the Texas Rangers. He started the year in Double-A, but since being promoted to Triple-A in May he is batting .311/.385/.497 between Louisville and Sacramento. To make room for Anderson on the 40-man roster, Joe Savery was designated for assignment, according to mlb.com's Aaron Leibowitz:

@jfkooAN Joe Savery was DFA'ed.

— Aaron Leibowitz (@aaron_leib) September 1, 2014

The move means the A's have four catchers on the active roster, one on the disabled list, a former catcher playing third base, and Nate Freiman, a former catcher, will arrive tomorrow.

@rfethan148 someone better check on @FakeFosse

— Steven Earl Chambers (@stevenEchambers) September 1, 2014

Reliever Fernando Rodriguez was briefly with the club while Ryan Cook was on the disabled list in May. In six appearances for the big league club, the right-hander gave up just one earned run and four hits in eight innings, striking out four and walking two. With the Sacramento River Cats, Rodriguez sports a 1.97 ERA in 45⅔ innings pitched, which ranks best among Sacramento pitchers with more than seven innings pitched. He struck out 53 and walked just 16 while there.

Jed Lowrie bats sixth and plays shortstop in this afternoon's lineup. In his brief rehab assignment with the River Cats, Lowrie went 2-for-9 and struck out once against the Reno Aces. He committed an error in his first game on Saturday, but was error-free on Sunday.

Adam Dunn bats fourth and is your designated hitter against the right-handed Mariner pitcher Chris Young. To clear 40-man space for Dunn on August 31, Sacramento starting pitcher Deck McGuire was removed from optional assignment and assigned outright to the River Cats. Of note, this meant that McGuire had cleared outright waivers sometime since August 1, as otherwise the A's would have had to designate him for assignment while waiting for waivers to clear.

Derek Norris finally gets a day off with Geovany Soto starting. Turn the page, A's fans! It's a new month!