Jimmy Yacabonis on his latest return to the O's roster

The latest Triple-A Norfolk-to-Baltimore pitching shuffle brings right-handed reliever Jimmy Yacabonis back to Camden Yards today. He takes the roster spot of Luis Ortiz, who was optioned out after making Friday's start against Boston.

This will be Yacabonis' third stint with the Orioles this year and he's 1-1 with a 6.11 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in 11 games. He's pitched in 19 games at Norfolk, going 1-2 with a 4.74 ERA. Over 19 innings with the Tides, he walked 13, fanned 19 and posted a 1.68 WHIP.

Yacabonis continues fighting the battle to find consistent major league success. He can draw a bit on a good finish in Baltimore to his 2018 season. He posted a September ERA of 2.61 in six games, making three starts.

He comes to the Orioles off three consecutive scoreless outings with the Tides over 3 1/3 innings.

"Yeah, I've been feeling really good down at Norfolk," he said. "Trying to execute pitches and my game plan day in and day out and stay consistent with that. Now I need to try and make that work up here.

"At first, it was weird, I was coming in right after the starter and going one or two, sometimes three innings. Then, the past couple of outings, I've been pitching later in the ballgames in some crucial situations and in some tight jams. I've had the whole spectrum this year pitching at Triple-A. Just got to keep working."

Last year, the Orioles used Yacabonis to start games often. He made 21 starts in the minors and seven with the Orioles. This season, he's been back full-time in a bullpen role.

"I think coming into late-game situations in Norfolk and getting some big outs really gave me that edge that got kind of lost not being a reliever last year," he said. "So I started gaining that edge back and getting confidence back in my stuff."

Yacabonis broke north with the Orioles on opening day and was with the club until being optioned out on April 28. He returned from May 11-16 and here he is back again.

He is very familiar with riding the Norfolk-Baltimore shuttle. But he said that got a bit easier this year because of the baseball. For the first time this season, they've used the exact same baseball in Triple-A and in the major leagues.

"I definitely think using the same balls this year between Triple-A and here is huge. Pretty much anything I'm working on down here will translate up here," he said.

Pitchers have said in the past that the same arm action they used to spin a breaking ball would produce different results between the majors and minors. Yes, that is crazy, and, yes, it was needed to make the move to use the same baseballs. Maybe a day is coming when that will be uniform throughout the entire minor leagues.

So for now, Yacabonis is excited about another chance in the bigs. He knows his control and command will have to be better this time. This season, between 36 2/3 innings between Norfolk and Baltimore, he's walked 20.

So what is the key for him in locking that in?

"Just staying relaxed and I'm starting to develop a motion that I can consistently repeat," said Yacabonis. "And just being able to throw quality strikes rather that just fill up the strike zone. If you throw a quality strike, even in a hitter's count, you can get some weak contact and get an out."