Escobar will open the year at High-A Bradenton, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports.

EDGE Analysis

It was reported early in spring training that he was optioned to Triple-A, but he will instead head back to High-A, were he logged a 3.98 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 85:38 K:BB in 92.2 innings last year. He will likely spend most of the year at Double-A, where he logged a 4.54 ERA and 25:21 K:BB in 35.2 innings in 2018.