PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Red Sox outfield prospect Ryan Westmoreland is meeting with reporters at the player development complex in Fort Myers on Thursday. Roughly 50 miles north, the man who one day may be his manager shed some light on Westmoreland's remarkable recovery from brain surgery.
"I think it's amazing," Terry Francona said. "I saw him that day in Fenway sitting in a wheelchair. Now he's attempting to play baseball. I think it's already a win-win. Obviously, because I'm a member of the Red Sox, I would love to see him as a productive player, but the fact that he's out there playing, it's already an exciting story."
Westmoreland, 20, had surgery nearly a year ago to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain. During his recovery last season, he was able to make a few appearances at Fenway Park and has reached many milestones along the way. He has begun to take batting practice this spring and hopes to be in games sometime soon.
Francona said he communicated with Westmoreland via text message a few times, but wanted to limit it to that, knowing the Rhode Island native had enough to deal with.
"I didn't know him real well, and they had asked for so much privacy," Francona said. "I'd drop him a text, wanted him to know I cared but I didn't want to be that guy that didn't know him before and all of a sudden became his best friend. He's already got his best friends, but I wanted him to know that we cared about him."
Westmoreland was widely considered the top positional prospect in the system before the surgery robbed him of a full year. A graduate of Portsmouth High School, he hit .296 with seven home runs, 35 RBIs and 19 stolen bases in 60 games with Single-A Lowell in 2009.
