Ryan Michael Westmoreland (born April 27, 1990) is a former American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player. An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

, he played in minor league baseball in the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

organization. Westmoreland was considered one of the best prospects in baseball. However, his career was limited by a medical condition that has required two brain surgeries. A star baseball player in high school, Westmoreland was twice named to the Rhode Island All-State team and was named the Rhode Island player of the year as a senior. The Red Sox selected Westmoreland in the

2008 Major League Baseball Draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

and signed him with a $2 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' ranked Westmoreland among the best prospects in baseball in 2010. However, he began to experience symptoms of a

cavernous malformation Cavernous hemangioma, also called cavernous angioma, venous malformation, or cavernoma, is a type of venous malformation due to endothelial dysmorphogenesis from a lesion which is present at birth. A cavernoma in the brain is called a cerebral ca ...

that year, which required two surgeries and years of rehabilitation. Westmoreland announced his retirement in 2013.

Career

Westmoreland attended Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. He was named to the All-State team in 2007 and 2008, and was named

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

Rhode Island Player of the Year in both years. Westmoreland committed to attend

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

on a baseball scholarship, allowing him to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's team ...

. Eligible in the

at the end of his high school career, ''

'' rated Westmoreland the 113th-best prospect available in the draft. However, it was rumored that he would only consider signing a professional contract with the

, his hometown team. The Red Sox drafted Westmoreland in the fifth round of the draft, with the 172nd overall selection. Westmoreland signed with the Red Sox, receiving a $2 million

. Assigned to the Lowell Spinners of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League, Westmoreland batted .296 with seven

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 35

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs), and a .401

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

in 60 games during the 2009 season. ''Baseball America'' rated Westmoreland the 21st-best prospect in baseball prior to the 2010 season. Before the season began, Westmoreland began to experience weakness, and

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio wave ...

diagnosed a

at his

brainstem The brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior stalk-like part of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. In the human brain the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is cont ...

. In March 2010, Westmoreland had brain surgery to repair the malformation. He continued to rehabilitate in an attempt to return to professional baseball in the 2011–12 offseason. Following a setback in his rehabilitation, Westmoreland underwent a second surgery in July 2012. Westmoreland announced his retirement from baseball on March 6, 2013. In June 2014, the Lowell Spinners retired Westmoreland's uniform number, 25, the first such honor by the Spinners for a player. A

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports network, regional sports cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which ow ...

biography, ''Red Sox Prospects: The Ryan Westmoreland Story'', debuted on August 16, 2018.

Personal life

Westmoreland's father, Ron, played baseball and coached for Eckerd College, and two of his uncles played professional baseball. Ron Westmoreland is treasurer and long-time co-owner of the Newport Gulls summer collegiate baseball team in the NECBL. Westmoreland married his long time girlfriend, Libby (née Pinkham) on June 26, 2020. They have a daughter, Adeline Grace born in 2021.

References

External links

, o
SoxProspects.com
*
Ryan Westmoreland Interview
via

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Westmoreland, Ryan 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Newport, Rhode Island Baseball players from Rhode Island Baseball outfielders Lowell Spinners players People with cavernous hemangioma

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links