Lefty Wade LeBlanc signs minor-league contract with Blue Jays

Lefty Wade Leblanc has signed a minor-league contract with the Blue Jays with an invite to major league spring training, reports ESPN Jerry Crasnick.

Lefty Wade LeBlanc, who pitched last year in Japan, has agreed to minor-league deal with #BlueJays with a big-league invite.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 17, 2015

Leblanc, 31, is a "quadruple-A" type pitcher, having never spent a full season in the major leagues despite playing in the bigs in parts of seven seasons. He was a second-round draft pick of the Padres in 2006, making his debut with them just two seasons later at age 23, pitching in a handful of games. Over the next few years he bounced through the Marlins, Houston, Angels (twice) and the Yankees. As Crasnick mentioned, he spent 2015 as a starter for the Seibu Lions in Japan, although only managing to make eight starts with them before being sent to the Japanese minor leagues.

Over 446 major league innings, LeBlanc has recorded a 4.47 ERA (4.63 FIP), a 15.7 K%, 8.3 BB% and is pretty much a groundball pitcher. He has a slow 86-87 mph fastball to go with a change about 10 mph slower as well as a curve that is not very effective. The last time he was in the big leagues, in 2014 with the Angels, he had a pretty good run of eight games in September.

LeBlanc is likely to join the backend of the Bisons' rotation in 2016.