OAKLAND — Jesse Hahn is fairly certain that his next start will be in an A’s uniform. His manager offered a more cautious forecast.
The 27-year-old right-hander said he felt “really good” after throwing 75 pitches in a minor league rehabilitation assignment with Class A Stockton Wednesday and he expects his next start to be in the big leagues with the A’s next week.
Hahn, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right triceps injury on May 27, is slated to throw a regular bullpen session Saturday.
“I’m assuming my next start is going to be off the DL,” he said. “I’m ready to go, absolutely.”
Manager Bob Melvin isn’t quite as certain that Hahn will be throwing with the club when his next start comes up.
“There’s a chance,” Melvin said. “We’re still trying to figure out where we go with this.”
Hahn left during the third inning of his start against the Miami Marlins on May 23 after he experienced a significant drop in his velocity. The right-hander said he felt “tightness” in his triceps that night, but didn’t feel any pain or discomfort.
The club is taking a particularly cautious approach with Hahn’s recovery because of past issues with his throwing arm, including Tommy John surgery in 2010.
“That’s where we wanted to be conservative with him,” Melvin said. “He really has not felt bad. It’s just the velocity was down so much that based on some previous health issues we felt like we wanted to give him a break.”
— The A’s are also taking a cautious approach with right-hander Kendall Graveman, who was scratched from his start against the New York Yankees on May 26 with a strained right shoulder and placed on the 10-day disabled list Monday.
Graveman, who also spent 10 days on the disabled list in April with shoulder issues, took an MRI on May 24, revealing no structural damage in his shoulder.
“It’s just inflammation,” Graveman said. “The strength is coming back and I’m going to do some strengthening stuff next week, and as long as I continue on this path, we’re moving in the right direction.”
The 26-year-old right-hander said things just didn’t feel right with his shoulder during a bullpen session before his scheduled start on May 26.
“Last time, we were able to pitch through some stuff,” Graveman said. “I got to the point where in my mind I felt like I wasn’t doing anybody any justice going out there, myself included, to continue to pitch.
“I had to speak up and be honest, and was able to do that. We’ve really come a long way the last 10 days.”
Graveman, who’s 2-2 with a 3.83 ERA in eight starts this season, said the A’s haven’t set a timetable for when he’ll start throwing a baseball again. At this point, the plan is to continue his strengthening program, which he started three days ago, for another week.
“It’s not like a pulled muscle, where you say four to six weeks,” Graveman said. “It’s not a set timetable, but I think we’re closer than further.”
— Marcus Semien took a step in his recovery from a broken right wrist Friday, throwing the baseball over his shoulder from a distance of 75 feet.
Semien started throwing from 45 feet Tuesday and he took about 15 swings with a fungo bat later in the week. He’s planning to take another 30 to 45 cuts with the fungo Saturday. After that, he’ll alternate days in which he throws the ball and swings the bat.
The 26-year-old shortstop, who was placed on the 60-day disabled list April 20, isn’t experiencing any pain while throwing or swinging.
The next step is improving the strength and flexibility in his surgically-repaired right wrist to the point where he can make the side-angle throws that are so instrumental to playing his position.
“It’s still kind of stiff. You need 100 percent wrist on those throws,” Semien said. “You make a lot of those throws as an infielder just throwing it around the horn or flipping it or a play where you’re charging.”
Semien doesn’t have a timetable for when he’ll start swinging in the cage.
— Sean Doolittle will start his minor league rehabilitation in Class A Stockton Friday, throwing a single inning.
Doolittle missed the entire month of May with a left shoulder strain.
“We’ll see how he throws tonight,” Melvin said. “He’ll have at least one more. We’re not sure if we’ll do more than that, but we’ll see how many pitches tonight before we set a date for his next one.”
— Friday’s matchup at the Oakland Coliseum looks like a colossal mismatch on paper.
The A’s bats, which struck out 19 times against the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday and another 17 times on Thursday, will be squaring off against Washington Nationals flamethrower Stephen Strasburg, who fanned 15 San Diego Padres batters in seven innings of work in his last start on May 27.
How do the A’s attack Strasburg at the plate?
“Have a good two strike approach, and we have not had that recently,” Melvin said. “He’s got a number of pitches that he can strike you out with and it’s been a little bit of an Achilles’ heel for us.”
