The Padres have signed right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis to a minor league contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).

Over his three MLB seasons, Yacabonis has seen action as both a starter and a reliever for the Orioles, though he hasn’t found much success in either role.  The 27-year-old has a 5.75 ERA over 101 2/3 career innings (starting 11 of 55 games), with a 6.6 K/9 and only a 1.32 K/BB rate.  Yacabonis has also been plagued by the long ball over the last two seasons in particular, with a 1.9 HR/9 over his last 81 frames of work.

Yacabonis does have a live arm and a 94mph fastball, so there’s little risk for the Padres in taking to him to Spring Training and seeing if they can unlock some potential in the New Jersey native.  Yacabonis will see some familiar faces from Baltimore, as former Orioles coaches Wayne Kirby and Bobby Dickerson and former O’s utilityman Ryan Flaherty are all on San Diego’s coaching staff, and of course former O’s star Manny Machado is now holding down third base for the Padres.

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