Pirates All 40: Bailey Falter Can’t Afford to Falter in 2025

This is one in a series of stories breaking down members of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 40-man roster.

The good news for Bailey Falter was that, for the first time in 2024, he stayed in the major leagues for an entire season.

The not-so-good news is that the left-hander had a mediocre year with the Pittsburgh Pirates after parts of three seasons with them and the Philadelphia Phillies. He finished with an 8-9 record, 4.43 ERA and a 1.286 WHIP in 28 starts.

The Pirates acquired Falter from the Phillies at the 2023 trade deadline, and he stuck with Pittsburgh for the remainder of the season. He then made the Pirates’ season-opening rotation this past season despite a lackluster spring training in which he allowed 14 runs in 16 innings in Grapefruit League play.

The up-and-down nature of Falter’s season took shape early.

In his first start, Falter was tagged for six runs in four innings by the Miami Marlins. He shut out the Baltimore Orioles on one hit over six innings his next time out.

Falter was 1-0 with a 2.23 ERA in five starts during May. In June, he lost four straight starts and went 1-4 with a 5.63 ERA in five outings.

Falter left his start against the New York Mets on July 6 in the third inning then spent 22 days on the injured list with a left triceps strain.

Falter was 4-7 with a 4.07 ERA in 17 starts when placed on the IL. He then went 4-2 with a 5.02 ERA in 11 starts following his activation, going 4-0 in his first eight starts and taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning on Sept. 11 against the Marlins.

However, Falter faltered at the end of the season, going 0-2 with a 6.59 ERA. He talked about being tired following his penultimate start on Sept. 24 versus the Milwaukee Brewers and was not happy that he was asked to pitch again five days later when he gave up four runs in three innings against the New York Yankees.

Falter set career highs in all major statistical categories. That is not a surprise considering he had not pitched more than 84 innings in any of his first three major-league seasons.

However, Falter’s 97 strikeouts in 142.1 innings in 2024 were low in this era of swing and miss. He ranked in the bottom sixth percentile of major-league pitchers with his 16.5% strikeout rate.

Falter could be a potential trade candidate as the Pirates look to deal from their starting pitching depth to bolster their offense this winter. If he is back with the Pirates in 2025, Falter would likely start the season in the rotation but looking over his shoulder at such rising prospects as Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft, Thomas Harrington and Mike Burrows.