Falter to stretch out at Lehigh Valley; Torreyes leaves the organization

Bailey Falter (0-1, 4.91) wasn’t exactly putting himself into any postseason awards discussions in his four games with the Phillies, but that’s not why he was moved to Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. Instead, the Phillies looked around the organization and saw that there is no real depth to the starting rotation, meaning that if a starter goes down, they’re in trouble.

With that in mind, Falter was sent to Lehigh Valley with an eye on being reconverted to pitching as a starter, a role that he held as recently as last season when six of his eight games with the IronPigs were as a starter. Prior to that, he had been used exclusively as a starter since being drafted by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2015 Draft. He made one start for the Phillies last season and 21 other appearances in the majors were out of the bullpen.

There is no word on when Falter will make his first start with Lehigh Valley but Friday might be a good guess since the IronPigs will be playing a double-header against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Falter threw a shutout inning Monday against the Rockies in his last outing with the Phillies.

Lehigh Valley starters currently have a combined ERA of 7.34 and are 0-6 on the season. Hans Crouse, the top pitching prospect at Lehigh Valley, was placed on the IL last week with elbow inflammation and James Marvel, another key starter for the ‘Pigs is 0-3 with a 12.51 ERA on the season. The only effective starter at Lehigh Valley has been right-hander Colton Eastman who is 0-1 but has a 3.52 ERA in his four starts.

To replace Falter in the Phillies bullpen, the team has recalled lefty Damon Jones, who had struggled with Lehigh Valley early on, posting a 12.27 ERA in three relief appearances covering 3 2/3 innings of work.

In another move, infielder Ronald Torreyes, who played 112 games with the Phillies in 2021 and hit 7-41-.242/.286/,346 in the big leagues wasn’t seeing much playing time at Lehigh Valley this season. Torreyes had 35 at-bats in 10 games with the IronPigs and was hitting just .171/.237/.200 in the minors.

Bryson Stott was officially added to the Lehigh Valley roster on Wednesday after being optioned out a day earlier. Stott was in the lineup and hitting leadoff for the IronPigs against the RailRiders.