Top Boston Red Sox Prospect Ryan Westmoreland To Have Brain Surgery

I am starting to think that since being drafted, Boston Red Sox outfield prospect Ryan Westmoreland has either walked underneath a ladder, broke a mirror, chased someone with a broom, dropped a dishcloth, or did whatever to give him bad luck.

Since being drafted by the Red Sox in 2008, it seems like Westmoreland has had nothing but bad luck. In 2008, he hurt his shoulder and eventually needed surgery, last year he broke his clavicle running into an outfield fence, and this year the news is much worse.

According to the Boston Herald, Westmoreland will be taking a medical leave of absence because he has been diagnosed with a cavernous malformation in his brain. A “cavernous malformation” is vascular and not a form of cancer. But surgery is needed only for the most serious cases that involve bleeding.

Regardless of what type of prospect Westmoreland is, this is very sad news. He will be undergoing surgery on Tuesday and the procedure will be performed by Dr. Robert Spetzler of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ.

I think I speak for everyone in Red Sox Nation in wishing Westmoreland and healthy and speedy recovery. Here are some other facts about Westmoreland.

Age: 19

Bats: Left

Throws: Right

College: None. Drafted out of Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, RI.

Drafted: Fifth round of the 2008 draft

Minor League Stats:

2009 Low Single A: .296 with seven home runs, 15 doubles, 19 stolen bases, and a .401 OBP in 60 games

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis

Ranking: No. 32 out of 100 best prospects in baseball for 2010.

Analysis: “Westmoreland was one of the top prep players available in the 2008 Rule 4 draft, but was widely considered unsignable due to his strong commitment to Vanderbilt. (Imagine how much more stacked Vanderbilt’s 2011 draft class — which still features potential first-rounders Sonny Gray, Jack Armstrong and Jason Esposito — would be with Westmoreland in it.)

The Red Sox signed Westmoreland for $2 million, but he had hurt the labrum in his throwing shoulder and ended up having offseason surgery between 2008 and 2009, limiting him to DH duty for most of last summer. He was still recovering from the original injury, playing left field rather than center when he picked up a glove again, only to break his collarbone slamming into the outfield wall while catching a fly ball, further holding back his development.

Westmoreland is a top-10 talent with his combination of athleticism, power potential and feel for hitting, and he showed very advanced plate discipline in his limited season in Lowell last year while going a remarkable 19-for-19 in stolen base attempts. The combination of catastrophic injuries does raise the specter of Chris Snelling Disease, in which a prospect is so prone to injury that he can’t develop properly as a hitter. But with a full season in 2010, Westmoreland could largely put those concerns to rest.”

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