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With Michael Lorenzen’s return from the injured list imminent, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported that Matt Quatraro’s plan is to move Bailey Falter into the bullpen<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michael Lorenzen will come off the IL and slot back into the rotation on Saturday. Ryan Bergert scheduled to start Sunday.<\/p>\n Bailey Falter is going to the bullpen, manager Matt Quatraro said today.<\/p>\n \u2014 Anne Rogers (@anne__rogers) August 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n <\/p>\n While this may not have been the initial plan when the Royals acquired him from the Pittsburgh Pirates on trade deadline day<\/a>, there’s multiple factors that have played into the decision. One outside of Falter’s control has been just how strong his fellow deadline day acquisition<\/a> in rookie Ryan Bergert has performed – he sports a 3.18 ERA, 0.79 WHIP and .154 BAA in his first two starts in Kansas City.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the end of the day though, Falter’s own perfromance is what merits this move, as he simply hasn’t been strong as a starter to start his Royals tenure. In his first two starts since joining the squad, he’s thrown to a 10.13 ERA, 2.00 ERA and .324 WHIP. These could normally be grounds for demotion, but with no options left, multiple years of control and plenty of upside to dream on, a trip to Triple-A seems all but impossible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, now that Falter is destined to the bullpen for the forseeable future, how will he fare? Because there’s reasons to believe he could find a rhythm, but also reasons to believe that the move may not work out. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While certain pitches may have worsened in production this season since joining the Royals, Falter has no specific offering that heavily raises eyebrows.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n None of his five pitches bares a BAA above .250 and only his splitter – his least thrown pitch at 7.8% – holds an xBA above .300.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many relievers have a specific pitch that’s their go to offering, but not all of them have the benefit of a starters arsenal, so Falter’s five-pitch mix could be key in keeping hitters off balance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite being solely starter since the start of the start of the 2024 season, Falter is not a stranger to pitching out fo the ‘pen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For all but one outing in his rookie campaign in 2021 and then a smattering of relief outings throughout 2022 and ’23, he’s thrown to a respectable 3.81 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 1.08 WHIP and .237 BAA. This is actually considerably better than his career starter splits<\/a>, where he only throws to a 4.60 ERA, 4.73 FIP, 1.30 WHIP and .264 BAA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And just looking at his most recent run out of the ‘pen back in 2023, he threw to a 1.02 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and .197 BAA in 17.2 innings. It may be a small sample size and two seasons removed, but it’s still promising nonetheless.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now shifting to the ugly side of things, Bailey Falter’s underlying metrics this season are extremely underwhelming. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While strong metrics across the board aren’t required in the job description of relievers, most have some area that they specialize or thrive in. Some are strikeout machines, others are groundball specialists, others thrive off limiting hard-contact.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Falter is none of these things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
2 reasons why Bailey Falter could work in the Royals’ bullpen<\/h2>\n
Falter has no overtly weak pitch offering this season<\/h3>\n
Falter has a better track record as a reliever<\/h3>\n
2 reasons why Bailey Falter may not work in the Royals’ bullpen<\/h2>\n
Falter’s underlying metrics show he thrives at nothing<\/h3>\n