You probably already know a lot about the best prospects, so there's not much point in writing more about them here. But there are others about whom not a lot has been written because they aren't considered prospects. For instance, Luis Exposito (who pronounces his first name LOO-is, not loo-EESE.) Exposito is on the Orioles' 40-man roster and was optioned to Norfolk. He's likely to be the starting catcher for the Norfolk Tides. Because he is, for now, on the Orioles' 40-man roster, he is a candidate to be promoted if the Orioles need a catcher. If Matt Wieters got hurt, and Exposito had to take his place, would he be at least a passable fill-in?
After Exposito joined the Orioles organization on waivers from the Red Sox, he was assigned to Norfolk and spent most of the season there. From the beginning, I was struck by one facet of Exposito's game -- he's slow, even for a catcher. Now, being slow isn't necessarily the kiss of death for a catcher. If a catcher has power or patience, he can still be a valuable offensive force even if he's slow.
Exposito doesn't draw walks. In his minor league career, he's drawn 162 walks in 2272 plate appearances, for a walk rate of 7.1%. His lifetime OBP is .324 and his career high is .339, so his offensive contribution won't be getting on base. Does he have enough power to be a viable major leaguer?
The evidence is confusing. Exposito did slug .420 in 2012, which doesn't look good until you remember that Norfolk is a bad place to hit. His career slugging percentage is .418, but that's spiked by an outlying 2008 season. So the summary statistical evidence is mixed; it looks like he was playing over his head in 2012 but was doing so in a tough park.
So we'll need to dig down a bit more. I reviewed my scoresheets of the 2012 games that I worked, and Exposito's balls in play breakdown is below:
P
|
C
|
1B
|
2B
|
3B
|
SS
|
LF
|
CF
|
RF
|
|
Fly Ball
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
5
|
2
|
Line Drive
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
Ground Ball
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
7
|
11
|
1
|
6
|
2
|
The table shows how many fly balls, line drives, and ground balls Exposito hit and the fielder who fielded or significantly deflected it. In the games I saw, he hit nearly 50% more ground balls than fly balls and line drives combined. About 25% of his ground balls were base hits to the outfield. Based on what I saw, he wasn't able to take advantage of whatever power he may have. He appears to be a singles-hitting catcher.
I really don't have any strong impressions about his defense. Early in his career, he had the reputation for having a strong arm and acceptable defensive tools, but also for being unrefined. I'm always concerned that big, slow catchers will become too immobile to play even catcher, being unable to chase missed pitches or to field hits in front of the plate.
So, it looks as though Luis Exposito is your basic AAA catcher. It's too bad, in a way, that the Montreal Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals. For if the Expos still existed, we could all root for Luis Exposito to join them. I don't think he has the skills to be anything more than an occasional backup in the major leagues. If that's true, I'll get plenty of chances to see him at Norfolk in 2013 -- unless the Orioles lose him on waivers if they try to remove him from the 40-man roster.
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