A GOOD FORMULA
Bailey Falter has found a good mix on the mound so far this season. We won’t go so far as to say it has anything to do with his famous high school chemistry partner. But it’s still a fun place to start.
Bailey Falter didn’t have just any ordinary chemistry partner in his senior year of high school. Before graduating from Chino Hills (Calif.) High School, Falter worked through the course’s curriculum with Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball, the eldest brother from the basketball family that rose to prominence in the late 2010s.
One of Lonzo’s younger brothers, LiAngelo, even dated a close friend of Falter’s wife, Kylee’s, back in high school. So the Pirates left-hander got to occasionally hang out at the Ball residence. The house with a backyard basketball court featured in countless YouTube videos was just a five-minute drive from Falter’s childhood home.
“They were always good people. Super good kids, never really partied or got in any trouble,” Falter said. “Just took basketball very seriously, if you couldn’t tell with LaVar.”
The father of three professional basketball players, LaVar appeared in national headlines for boisterous claims like saying he could beat Michael Jordan in a one-on-one game. Falter’s high school experience featured much more time sitting next to Lonzo than conversing with his father.
Yet the southpaw never perceived LaVar’s behavior as anything but genuine.
“That’s no front. That’s him on and off camera,” Falter said. “He’s a good guy, though. He cares about his kids. And, I mean, look where it got him. They’re all doing pretty well.”
Before going pro, the trio of Ball brothers made for quite the spectacle at the suburban Southern California high school’s home basketball games. Falter went to as many as he could, though getting a seat in the student section with his friends was no easy feat.
“I remember we went to one game, we barely got in,” Falter said. “We got there, and the line through the gymnasium was wrapped around the school twice. I don’t know what the people were thinking because not everyone was able to get in.”
Chino Hills’ gym often had to be reconfigured to accommodate celebrities; NBA superstars like Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Damian Lillard were among the many who showed up.
Before Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo — now a star point guard for the Charlotte Hornets — enrolled, Chino Hills was an innocuous high school located roughly 30 miles east of Los Angeles. It’s also where Falter began to realize pitching professionally was within reach.
With an unorthodox, deceptive delivery, Falter threw a complete-game, 16-strikeout no-hitter as a sophomore. He excelled in three varsity seasons, producing a career 1.26 ERA and a 1.20 mark as a senior.
Falter grew up playing baseball both because he enjoyed it and his father wanted him to play.
“We didn’t really have this whole thing going on until probably my senior year of high school,” Falter said in reference to a prospective pro career. “And I was like, ‘You might have something here, you know?’ ”
Falter wasn’t an NBA lottery pick like the oldest and youngest Ball brothers, but his name was called in the fifth round of the 2015 MLB draft. And unlike those more heralded classmates, Falter had to scrap his way to the big leagues.
Six years after Philadelphia drafted him out of high school, he made his MLB debut with the Phillies in 2021 and even pitched in the NLCS in 2022. But Falter went 0-7 in eight appearances to start the 2023 season and had an ERA over 5.00. He was sent down to Triple-A in May and traded to the Pirates for Rodolfo Castro last August.
Falter then endured a challenging spring training that put into question whether he would start the season in the Pirates rotation. A rocky first appearance in Miami in which he gave up five runs before recording an out didn’t do him any favors.
Yet, since then, he has entrenched himself in the rotation; Falter has a 3.33 ERA and has given up a combined four earned runs in his last four starts. He’s relied heavily on a four-seam fastball that, while averaging in the low 90s, has been one of MLB’s most effective pitches this season.
“[I] was fortunate enough to come up here and put together a couple of good games and kind of solidify a spot in the big leagues,” Falter said. “So it’s all been good so far.”
Falter, 26, has come a long way since dominating hitters at a star-studded high school. So, too, has the Ball family.
Now, Falter is looking to leave Southern California. He’s spent offseasons in Orange County, yet intends on relocating to Mesa, Ariz.. And as the crow flies, his current employer necessitates Falter work even farther away from where he was raised.
But no matter how far, he’ll always have the fond memories of his younger years — especially the final few that overlapped with some of his alma mater’s most famous alumni.
“I still remember all those good days in high school back in Chino Hills, with all the boys where it started,” Falter said. “I wish them the best, for sure.
“[People] wouldn’t know Chino Hills if the Ball brothers wouldn’t have gone there. They definitely put us on the map.”