Braves Designate Bailey Falter For Assignment

The Braves announced this morning that left-hander Bailey Falter has been designated for assignment. Right-hander Owen Murphy has been recalled from Triple-A to take his spot on the active roster.

The 29-year-old Falter was acquired from the Royals alongside outfielder Lane Thomas prior to the 2026 trade deadline. By agreeing to acquire Falter and some of the remainder on his $3.6MM salary, Atlanta likely lowered the prospect cost of acquiring Thomas.

Falter pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings with the Braves this weekend after being added to the 40-man roster Friday. He’d pitched 9 2/3 innings with Kansas City and been shelled for 15 runs on 24 hits and six walks with six strikeouts.

Falter’s selection to the 40-man roster pushed righty Elieser Hernández off the roster by way of a DFA. Hernández has since re-signed on a minor league deal for the fourth time in the past nine months. With Falter now bounced from the 40-man himself, there’s a vacancy if the Braves want to add Hernández back to the 40-man for yet another stint.

Before this year’s disastrous showing with the Royals, Falter had been a serviceable five-inning starter for a few years. From 2024-25, he posted a 4.44 ERA, 16.1% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate, primarily in Pittsburgh. He’s been sharp with Atlanta both in minors (10 2/3 scoreless innings) and the majors, but it’s still unlikely that Falter will end up being claimed. Any team claiming Falter would be claiming the prorated remainder of that $3.6MM salary. Between this year’s struggles and his modest career track record (4.73 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate), that’s highly unlikely.

If and when Falter does clear, he’ll be outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett. He has enough service time to reject that assignment in favor of free agency, but doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of that guaranteed salary. As such, he’ll surely accept. Any player with three-plus years of service time who is outrighted off his team’s 40-man roster and not added back before the season ends has the right to become a minor league free agent.