MESA, Ariz. — Last year, it was Eric Sogard against the Giants’ Buster Posey in the “Face of MLB” competition. Sogard advanced to the finals and nearly won the whole thing, downed only by a very late surge in votes for David Wright of the Mets.

On Monday, A’s closer Sean Doolittle will face Posey in the semifinals of Twitter voting, and Doolittle indicated Sunday that he is loving it.

“It’s really been fun to watch,” said Doolittle, whose face has been Photoshopped into movie posters and stills, and onto superheroes and pop-culture icons. “I saw one video clip where I’m a Transformer. I’m on the 'Teen Wolf’ poster. I’m carrying Yoda on my back.

“I’m doing a lot of cool stuff on the Internet right now.”

In the other bracket, it’s Wright against the Orioles’ Adam Jones.

Doolittle is sidelined for the spring and for the start of the season with a slight labrum tear in his left shoulder, and the “Face of MLB” thing is providing a nice lift for him. He’s active on social media, he has a healthy sense of humor and enjoys the interactions with fans.

“Their creativity is amazing,” he said. “We might not have the biggest fan base, but we have the most passionate and loyal fans, and they’ve really gotten into this competition. The attention to detail is amazing; there’s one where I even have a unicorn tattoo.”

“For me, the neat thing is the fan base,” manager Bob Melvin said of the “Face of MLB” competition. “They’re into it, and if they like it, I like it.”

Doolittle’s girlfriend, Eireann Dolan, appeared on MLB Network to publicize Doolittle’s candidacy and has been involved in tweeting support for Doolittle, although the comedy writer is doing so subversively.

She has threatened to tweet embarrassing photos of Doolittle as a child — and has done so — unless people vote for him. She’s also told her followers all the reasons not to vote for him, including “He’s walked our dog fewer times this offseason than he walked batters in 2014.”

Nolin’s status: Left-hander Sean Nolin, who had surgery to repair a sports hernia in the offseason, didn’t fare as well as hoped in activity Saturday and will be held out for a while, possibly costing him a shot at a rotation spot.

“As of yesterday, he was going to be behind the other pitchers,” Melvin said. “As of today, he’s going to be significantly behind.”

Nolin, acquired from Toronto in the Josh Donaldson deal, had two stints on the disabled list last year with a groin strain. He had been a candidate to start, but he also can pitch in relief and the A’s could get him back more quickly in a relief role should he fall too far behind to compete for the rotation.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser