2021 report card: Bailey Falter

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports Coming out of seemingly nowhere in 2021, Falter has thrust himself squarely into the conversation for a rotation spot until Zach Eflin returns from injury.

2021 stats

33 2⁄3 IP, 1.19 WHIP, 24.5 K%, 4.3 BB%, 1.34 HR/9, 5.61 ERA (3.79 FIP), 0.3 fWAR

The good

Having Falter come up to the majors and throw quality innings for the team this year qualifies as a pretty big surprise for the team. The ERA isn’t the best, but the underlying numbers suggest that he was fairly unlucky (look at that difference between ERA and FIP). Heading into the season, Falter was tagged by at least one prospect group as having breakout potential.

The secondaries are not dominant — you’ll see…