Oakland A’s September call ups: Sean Doolittle, Matt McBride

The Oakland Athletics have announced a short first wave of September call ups, activating reliever Sean Doolittle from the disabled list and calling up Matt McBride as a third catcher. The A’s also reinstated starting pitcher Jesse Hahn from the disabled list, but optioned him to Triple-A Nashville. Starting pitcher Daniel Mengden will be called up Saturday to start, reports the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser.

With the Nashville Sounds and Midland RockHounds still competing for their respective league titles and the A’s not, it appears the A’s are holding off on adding the other starting pitchers to the club to bolster the A’s bullpen. Additionally, utility player Arismendy Alcantara was optioned out to High-A Stockton on August 29 so that he could return as soon as September 6, after Stockton’s season ends, instead of waiting the usual 10 days.

There are 38 players that currently count against the 40-man roster limit. Of all of the players on the 40-man rosters there will be:

• 28 on the Major League active roster (including Mengden’s activation on Saturday),
• 2 on the Major League 15-day disabled list,
• 5 starting pitchers on the minor league active or disabled list,
• 3 position players on the minor league active list,
• 11 players on the 60-day disabled list that don’t count against the 40-man limit.

Newly-minted Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year Steve Scarsone will take his Nashville Sounds to the PCL playoffs starting on September 7 against the Oklahoma City Dodgers. The PCL Championship could run through September 18 with the Triple-A National Championship against the International League champion scheduled for September 20 in Memphis. The A’s will probably make another round of call ups after the conclusion of Nashville’s season.