The Orioles announced four minor league signings Thursday, headlined by the latest comeback bid by 40-year-old Japanese right-hander Tomo Ohka.
Ohka last pitched competitively in the independent Atlantic League for the Bridgeport Bluefish in 2014 and hasn't pitched in the majors since he was with the Cleveland Indians in 2009. He has reinvented himself as a knuckleball pitcher and was in spring training with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2013.
Ohka, originally signed by Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette back when Duquette was in charge of the Boston Red Sox in 1998, also tried out for the Orioles back in 2013, when he began working on his knuckleball.
Duquette, who also oversaw the emergence of knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield while in charge of the Red Sox, has tried to add a knuckleballer to the Orioles' stable with the likes of Eddie Gamboa and Zach Clark.
Of the other three signings — infielders Garabez Rosa and Sean Coyle, and outfielder Chris Dickerson — two had been previously reported. Infielder Garabez Rosa, the record-holder for games played at Double-A Bowie, was included in an update of minor league free agents by Baseball America earlier this week. Rosa, a utility player who frequently appeared as a substitute in Orioles spring training games last season, hit .293 with a .708 OPS between Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk in 2016.
Infielder Sean Coyle, whose signing was previously reported by The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday, was a 2010 third-round pick of the Boston Red Sox whose career stalled because of a variety of injuries. He finished last season in the Los Angeles Angels organization after the Red Sox designated him for assignment, and hit .181 with eight home runs in 104 games for three total minor league clubs.
Dickerson, who joined the Orioles organization for the stretch run last year, hit .322 with three home runs in 15 games for Bowie. He's a veteran of five major league clubs, including the Orioles, but hasn't been in the majors since 2014.