Falter blossoming into power pitcher with 'funky' fastball

PITTSBURGH -- Joey Bart is new to the Pirates and is still getting to know his new pitching staff. Part of that is finding out that Bailey Falter is going to pace through the dugout on his start days when he’s not pitching.

“That's kinda how I figured out he's geared,” said Bart. “Just let him be, let him do his thing. Keep it simple for him, don't overcomplicate it. I don't even talk to him in the dugout. Just do your thing. He knows what we're doing and [to] keep going forward with it.”

Tuesday night felt “different” to Falter as he made his laps through PNC Park’s home dugout. He was locked in and wound up delivering one of his best starts to date, matching a career high with eight strikeouts over seven innings of one-run ball, propelling the Pirates to a 2-1 win over the Brewers.

Falter has been in a groove of late, allowing just five runs over his last 26 innings of work, showing why the Pirates decided to look past his shaky Spring Training results and put him in the rotation.

“I think that's the best I've felt for sure,” said Falter. “I mean, I don't think my arm's felt that good in a really long time.”

On the eve of his 27th birthday, Falter has been trying to simplify things and get back to being the pitcher he was coming up through the Phillies’ system rather than the guy that struggled in the Majors and was dealt to the Pirates at the last Trade Deadline. A lot of that centers around how he uses his four-seam fastball, which he has always considered his best pitch, despite it registering low-90s velocity.

It didn’t play like a low-90s fastball Tuesday, though. Falter threw 85 pitches over his seven-plus innings of work, and 60 of those pitches were four-seamers. The Brewers could barely hit it, mustering two singles in the third inning and a Gary Sánchez solo shot off a sinker in the eighth for their only knocks of the day. Meanwhile, all eight of Falter’s strikeouts were with his four-seamer, and he got 13 whiffs with the pitch.

Those 13 whiffs with his four-seamer are tied for the most of any Pirates pitcher in the pitch tracking era (since 2008), matching Jared Jones’ performance Monday. Falter said after the game he likes the dynamic he has with Jones pitching in front of him, saying the rookie speeds up hitters and he slows them down.

But in an era where many pitchers who throw in the low-90s are relying more and more on spin, Falter is doubling down on four-seamers like a power pitcher.

"I don't know what the definition of ‘power pitcher’ is,” said manager Derek Shelton. “If you look it up, it's probably going to say it’s guys who throw 95 [mph] or above. But the ability to pitch with the fastball would be more of what I would say."

So how does a 92 mph fastball play like it’s in the mid- or upper-90s?

“I think it's my extension, for sure,” Falter said. “Just a funky delivery with a lot of extension. Obviously the harder I throw, it tends to be a little bit better for me. Velo was up tonight, we got some good weak contact, some punchies.”

Of the tools at Falter’s disposal, that extension is the one that is potentially elite. He delivers his fastball 7.4 feet in front of the rubber, which is in the 98th percentile of qualified pitchers this year, according to Baseball Savant. It may be 60 feet, six inches from the rubber to home plate, but that extra extension means the flight path of Falter’s pitches is shorter.

Entering Tuesday, Falter’s average fastball velocity was 91 mph. Because of his extension and shorter flight path, it looks like a 92.9 mph pitch to a hitter.

“Five, six years ago nobody knew,” Bart said. “They just called it an invisible fastball. Now, you kinda understand the release and everything's a little bit odd. At the end of the day, people just don't know how to hit it up in the zone.”

Doing an interview on the field postgame, Falter was finally hit hard, though it was by his teammate Martín Pérez with a Gatorade shower, commemorating his effort to lead the Pirates to a second straight win over the National League Central-leading Brewers.

“It was cold, but hopefully many more to come,” Falter said.