The Cubs informed Brown on Tuesday that he will begin the season as the club's No. 5 starter, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports.

EDGE Analysis

The 25-year-old took the loss out of the bullpen in the season opener in Japan last week as he surrendered three runs (two earned) across 2.2 innings, but he apparently showed enough during camp to win the rotation spot. Brown started in eight of his 15 appearances as a rookie last year and had a 3.58 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 64:19 K:BB across 55.1 innings, and he may need to perform similarly this year to retain the rotation spot since Javier Assad (oblique) will potentially return early in the season.