Lefty Bailey Falter hopes sharpened slider, curveball will set up fastballs

He threw two scoreless innings in beating the Orioles Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Before the question was even asked, Bailey Falter blurted out the answer: breaking stuff.

The Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander has a reputation for taking advantage of his elite extension and throwing hitters a heavy dose of fastballs — a combined 62% between his four-seamer and sinker — so he spent his offseason sharpening his slider and curveball.

“We all know that that’s my bread and butter, so that’s why I was so focused on the offspeed this season, just to set that pitch up for a little bit more success, just to get you off the heater,” Falter said. “If I can tighten up the curveball and the slider, I’ll be good. … All these guys know I’m going to go out there and attack you with fastball, so if I tighten everything else up, too, it will just help me find success.”

Falter found success with his slider setting up his heater in his first start of spring training, recording three strikeouts against one walk in two scoreless innings in a 7-3 split-squad win over the Baltimore Orioles Wednesday afternoon at LECOM Park.

“It was a good outing for Bailey,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He walked the first hitter, then bounced back. The fastball really played because of the execution of the breaking pitches. Really encouraging to see him be that sharp early in the spring.”

After a full-count leadoff walk of Jackson Holliday, Falter got Ryan Mountcastle to ground into a forceout at second. Then Falter took turns using his breaking pitches, throwing a curveball to set up his sinker to get Gary Sanchez to fly out to center and a first-pitch slider before striking out Colton Cowser.

In the second inning, Falter got Coby Mayo to foul off a 1-1 slider before striking him out on a sinker above the strike zone. He got Heston Kjerstad to foul off an 0-1 slider before getting him swinging at a high four-seamer. And he got Dylan Carlson to foul off a curveball before using a sinker to get a groundout to second.

Falter threw strikes on 17 of 26 pitches, using a dozen sinkers and seven four-seamers. His five sliders drew two called strikes and two swings with one foul, and the curveball drew a foul ball on one swing.

“Everything looked great, besides that leadoff walk,” Falter said. “I have to clean that up a little bit, but the breaking stuff was sharp, the shapes were good. They were doing what they’re supposed to do, and the heater was there, of course, as always.”

But opponents batted .247 with 17 doubles and eight homers against his four-seamer and .280 against his sinker, and he felt his secondary pitches needed to be sharpened. Falter worked to add more depth to the curveball and to tighten up a slider to move away from left-handed hitters and into righties after it resembled more of a cutter last season.

The 27-year-old left-hander is coming off a season where he went 8-9 with a 4.43 ERA and 1.29 WHIP with eight quality starts and career highs in starts (28), innings pitched (142 1/3) and strikeouts (97). He’s hoping to improve those numbers this season, with an eye on making 30-plus starts.

“My goal is to just go out there and give the team the best chance to win, no matter how that gets done,” Falter said. “That’s the only goal. I don’t really care too much about numbers or anything personally for me. I just want to go out there and give the team the best chance to win.”

After winning the final spot in the rotation last spring, Falter was one of three lefties in the Pirates rotation, alongside veterans Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales. This year, the Pirates signed lefty Andrew Heaney to round out a rotation that features righties Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones, giving them a chance to split the lefties.

Before that is determined, Falter has to work out compensation for switching his jersey number for the second time in two seasons with the Pirates. Last year, he surrendered No. 44 to first baseman Rowdy Tellez. This spring, Falter gave his No. 26 to Adam Frazier.

“You know me, what has this been, my third number since being a Pirate? I’m a big service time guy,” Falter said. “The guy’s got nine years of service. It’s hard to tell that guy no.”

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Falter will wear No. 6, his first time in single digits.

“I feel like I got the right body type for a single digit, for sure, 100%,” Falter said with a laugh. “I’ve never been a single digit before, so it’s still kind of weird but it’s just a number. It don’t matter to me.”

As long as he gives the Pirates the best chance to win. NOTES: Matt Gorski hit his Grapefruit League-leading third home run of spring training, a two-run shot in the sixth inning, to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead. Tommy Pham and Henry Davis added two hits each in the win. … In the other split-squad game, Mike Burrows allowed two runs in two innings in a 9-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves in North Port. Jack Suwinski homered, Joshua Palacios added two hits and DJ Stewart went 2 for 3 to raise his batting average to .556 this spring. … Lefty Caleb Ferguson is scheduled to face Pablo Lopez as the Pirates visit the Twins at 1:05 p.m. today in Fort Myers.