This Royals Player Has Everything to Prove in Last Week of Spring Training

The last week of spring training is the rare time of year in Major League Baseball when the attention is shifts away from the stars and onto the players at the fringes of the roster.

Kansas City Royals pitcher Bailey Falter is one of those players. Acquired at last season's trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Falter entered the spring with no minor-league options available, yet sat somewhere around the No. 8 spot on the projected rotation depth chart.

Falter's performance early in the spring hasn't much helped his cause as he hopes to avoid being waived and exposed to the 29 other teams, or worse yet, a minor-league spot off the 40-man roster. But with the knowledge that the Royals may not want to risk losing him, he could potentially save himself over the next week.

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Where Bailey Falter stands with Royals' competition

Anne Rogers, who covers the Royals for MLB.com, revealed that the Royals have considered plenty of options when it comes to Falter as they look to cut their roster down to 26 players before next Friday's regular season opener.

"(Falter) has to make the team or be designated for assignment. The Royals have also been open to trading him," wrote Rogers.

"If a trade doesn’t materialize, they might be hesitant to move on from a piece of their depth before the season even gets started. The Royals don’t want to be in a position like last year, when depth was thin before the Trade Deadline. Falter could be the one who breaks camp as a long reliever/sixth starter to get the Royals through that early part of the season."

In a brief, injury-shortened debut with the Royals, Falter allowed 15 earned runs on 20 hits in his 12 major league innings with the club last summer. He's followed that up with six earned runs and 13 hits allowed in just 6 2/3 innings this spring.

If we assume the rotation will be comprised of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic, and Noah Cameron to open the season, Falter has an outside chance to be chosen as a sixth man, but he probably ranks behind Ryan Bergert in that battle as well.

So the question quickly comes down to how much the Royals value depth over performance. Because at this juncture, the only reason to keep Falter around is to hope he improves and can step up when the team needs him.