'Here I am': Falter flashes potential in Pirates debut

MILWAUKEE -- In Bailey Falter’s estimation, there were approximately eight seconds remaining before the conclusion of the Trade Deadline when he received the news.

Falter was sitting in the home clubhouse of Coca-Cola Park, the home of the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate, when teammate Connor Brogdon showed him the news on Twitter: Falter had been traded to the Pirates in exchange for infielder Rodolfo Castro. Several minutes later, Falter received a phone call confirming that he, indeed, was heading to Pittsburgh.

“He shows me. I’m reading. I’m like, ‘Dude, no way,’” Falter said. “Sure as hell, I get a phone call from our GM saying, ‘We just traded you to the Pirates.’ I’m like, ‘OK, thank you. Appreciate it.’ Here I am.”

The “here” in question is American Family Field, where Falter allowed one run across four-plus innings with two strikeouts to one walk as the Pirates lost to the Brewers, 3-2, in 10 innings on Saturday night. While Falter had a relatively short debut, one in which his workload was purposefully limited, Pittsburgh will be relying on the southpaw to provide quality innings moving forward.

“I thought he did a nice job,” said manager Derek Shelton. “He mixed and matched. He executed the fastball to both sides of the plate.”

Added Brewers manager Craig Counsell: “His fastball was really good. It just kind of got on us. We knew that. He located his fastball in, he's got great extension with his fastball and it just got on us enough where we just didn't square it up necessarily. He pitched well.”

With Pittsburgh, Falter will have an opportunity to start every five days -- a chance he had all but lost with his previous club.

Falter oscillated between the Majors and Minors in 2021 and ‘22 with the Phillies, but earned a spot in the starting rotation as the fifth starter coming out of Spring Training. Philadelphia provided Falter with an opportunity to start, but the left-hander was unable to consistently produce. In eight appearances (seven starts), Falter had a 5.13 ERA and a 4.73 FIP across 40 1/3 innings. The Phillies optioned Falter to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 16, and he remained with the team until being traded to the Pirates.

“I’m very excited to get on a routine,” Falter said. “Going up and down, it was hard. I would pitch every five days, then they would push me back to maybe once every six days. I would do that whole thing, so I’m excited to come here … and build a routine from there.”

Over the last several months, the Pirates’ rotation has had to manage some instability. In April, JT Brubaker and Mike Burrows, the organization’s No. 9 prospect per MLB Pipeline, both underwent season-ending surgery to reconstruct their respective right ulnar collateral ligaments (UCL). In June, Vince Velasquez underwent season-ending surgery to address damage to his right UCL.

Along with the injuries, there’s also been circumstance. On Trade Deadline day, Rich Hill was traded to the Padres. In mid-July, Roansy Contreras was optioned to the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Pirates (he has since joined Single-A Bradenton) and Luis Ortiz was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.

As things stand, the Pirates’ rotation features the newly-acquired Falter, Mitch Keller (who has struggled in recent weeks), Johan Oviedo (who has already thrown a career-high 124 1/3 innings) and rookies Quinn Priester and Osvaldo Bido, the latter of whom hasn’t pitched more than four innings in an outing since June 24.

“We’re in a position right now where we need innings,” Shelton said on Friday.

In eight games with the Phillies this season, Falter threw his four-seam fastball 53.7 percent of the time, his curveball 23.9 percent, his slider 10.4 percent and his changeup 8.9 percent.

Against the Brewers, by contrast, Falter relied more on spin and less on heat. Of Falter’s 63 pitches, the left-hander threw 27 four-seam fastballs (42.9%), 22 curveballs (34.9%) and 13 sliders (20.6%), one sinker and no changeups. Following the game, Falter revealed that he’s switched to a splitter grip, a change he made about three weeks ago with Lehigh Valley.

“I’m so over the top that it’s hard for me to pronate,” Falter said. “We came up with a solution that the split is just the best for me. Just have to perfect it a little bit more. Once I start throwing it a little bit more, I’ll get more comfortable.”