The Red Sox announced on Friday that recently designated-for-assignment left-hander Edwin Escobar has been claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks.
The 24-year-old Escobar came to the Red Sox alongside right-hander Heath Hembree in the 2014 trade that sent right-hander Jake Peavy to the Giants. Once rated among baseball’s Top 100 prospects by both Baseball America and MLB.com, Escobar’s star has faded since being acquired by the Sox. He worked to a 5.07 ERA in 49 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level last season and, most troubling of all, walked more batters (25) than he struck out (24). Escobar was also homer-prone with Pawtucket last season, surrendering eight long balls in those 49 2/3 frames. His control problems continued this past offseason in the Venezuelan Winter League, when he issued 19 free passes against just nine strikeouts in 27 innings of work.
The D-backs will hope that they can restore Escobar’s control and, in turn, see his production return to its lofty 2013 heights. That season, in 128 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, Escobar posted a 2.80 ERA with excellent averages of 10.2 strikeouts and 2.1 walks per nine innings pitched.
Still a young guy, if they can make a change in his mechanics maybe they can straighten him out.
Because Arizona has an excellent history of doing that? More likely he ends up like Allen Webster, another former NL West top prospect that flopped in Boston after a trade and didn’t recover in Arizona. I think he is in Korea now.
He’ll be an All-Star for the A’s in 10 years.