Ryan Westmoreland Diagnosed with a Cavernous Malformation

by Pelferized on Mar 13, 2026 6:57 PM EST Comment 37 comments

Crushing news for the Red Sox organization with it being reported top prospect Ryan Westmoreland has a cavernous malformation in his brain and will need surgery on tuesday. Here is more on cavernous malformation.

Diagnosis

Cavernous malformations are relatively uncommon, as is the likelihood that they'll bleed seriously. These vascular malformations typically do not cause any symptoms, but instead are detected on a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan done for unrelated reasons. In other cases, the cavernous malformation may lead to significant bleeding or hemorrhage into the brain tissue, causing weakness, numbness, difficulty in speaking, difficulty in seeing, gait unsteadiness or incoordination. Even the small amount of blood surrounding the cavernoma can cause irritation of the surrounding brain tissue, sometimes causing seizures.

Best wishes to Ryan Westmoreland and his family that he may have a safe and successful surgery as well as a healthy recovery.

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Wow

Just from the description, it doesn’t sound too dangerous at least. Hopefully he can recover quickly.

by jar75 on Mar 13, 2026 7:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

it's not a problem if it's in a place in the brain where they can remove all of it.

if they can’t, it just “grows” back and continues to be a problem.

by larry on Mar 13, 2026 8:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wow, sounded a lot worse just from the title...

…Jared Mitchell and Westmoreland going down in the same day? not a good day for 5-tool CFers… jeez

by daveh33 on Mar 13, 2026 7:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

This.

My best wishes go out to Westmoreland and his family.

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Mar 13, 2026 10:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

"Cavernous Malformation" sounds terrible, but its not really all that bad.

It’s a lesion in the brain - and anything with the brain is scary. He didn’t have any symptoms, though, it was just something they found. So, not like a life threatening issue or even career ending. But you never know with the brain. Must be terrifying for him, too.

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by alskor on Mar 13, 2026 10:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

if he doesn't have symptoms

it’s somewhat odd that they’re going ahead with surgery.

by larry on Mar 13, 2026 11:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

it sounded, from the describtion above, that there are no symptoms

you either have a seizure(which is more than a symptom IMO, that’s serious in itself) or it’s found in a physical.

The only real fear is that it doesnt go away after they remove it or he has some kind of long term affects…

by lakersdodgersyankees4life on Mar 14, 2026 3:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I’m guessing they’d be trying to remove it before it has any significant effect. The description said it could hemorrhage, so maybe they’d be removing it to avoid that?

The very bad man who traded my first son non-tendered my replacement son. F*ck you Brian Sabean. Leave my children alone.

by boonitez on Mar 14, 2026 5:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

what is said below makes more sense.

you don’t do brain surgery if you don’t need to.

by larry on Mar 14, 2026 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

PawSox announcer says he had a seizure in training camp.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Mar 13, 2026 11:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh seriously?

I thought it was just found randomly in the physical…

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by alskor on Mar 14, 2026 3:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

if that's true, that;s not good..

by lakersdodgersyankees4life on Mar 14, 2026 3:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

that's*

by lakersdodgersyankees4life on Mar 14, 2026 3:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'd say these sound like symptoms

The condition was discovered, according to a team source, after Westmoreland began experiencing headaches and exhibiting other neurological symptoms, including numbness.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/news/story?id=4992990

by PissedMick on Mar 14, 2026 1:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well

I hope this shows all of you MORONS who tried to suggest that Westmoreland isn’t injury prone.

by mrkupe on Mar 13, 2026 10:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

You crazy, you watch yoself, child...

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Mar 13, 2026 11:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't even know what you're trying to say in response to my clearly sarcasm-laden post

by mrkupe on Mar 13, 2026 11:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Is that the Reg?

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 15, 2026 1:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Reg(enstein Library)

By which I mean the location of the picture

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Mar 15, 2026 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was just messin', as you were messin'.

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Mar 13, 2026 11:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Damn

Hope the operation goes well and he recovers swiftly.

I reject your reality and substitute my own.

by WayneCampbell08 on Mar 14, 2026 11:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That's the sweetest thing you've ever said.

Brain surgery brings out the best in you, broham.

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Mar 14, 2026 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I fear that Westmoreland is going to be the next Chris Snelling

by Bravesin07 on Mar 14, 2026 9:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Because there is statistical proof of this?

Come on, stop making blanket statements that get you ridiculed on this site.

"When Justin Upton faces Lincecum, I think Christ might appear in the heavens, and the world will end." -JakeFree

by JT12340 on Mar 14, 2026 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Easy.

That’s just his opinion.

Braves never said it was set in stone.

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Mar 15, 2026 2:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Snelling was constantly injured,

This is completely different. This guy’s career may never get off the ground if his surgery doesn’t go right. The reality is that this is a shame, and silly comments like that shouldn’t even be mentioned. It’s absurd for him to say something stupid like that and for you to defend him.

"When Justin Upton faces Lincecum, I think Christ might appear in the heavens, and the world will end." -JakeFree

by JT12340 on Mar 15, 2026 5:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

even before this, Westmoreland had two big injuries in two years

by Bravesin07 on Mar 15, 2026 6:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Aside from the broken collarbone,

which he got from running into an OF wall making a spectacular catch, what other injury did he suffer?

Snelling, aside from blowing out his knee while base running, suffered constant muscle strains and was perpetually injured for 5 years. He also never really received a chance at extended playing time due to these injuries. He eventually got too old for most teams to house and became a roster filler for organizations AAA teams.

It’s ridiculous to make a statement like that about a kid who just found out he essentially has a malformation in his brain.

It’s 2010, and it’s the same old Bravesin07 typical post…

"When Justin Upton faces Lincecum, I think Christ might appear in the heavens, and the world will end." -JakeFree

by JT12340 on Mar 15, 2026 6:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Forgot about the labrum,

but he’s obviously healed from that. As for a collarbone, that’s not serious at all. The malformation is more bad luck than anything else. The difference between Snelling and Westmoreland is age. Snelling was 21 when he blew out his knee and the injuries started to pile up. Westmoreland hurt his shoulder out of high school, broke his collar bone at the end of last year (not really hurting himself in regards to developmental time), and was unlucky (probably more lucky that this was found) that the malformation was revealed by the MRI.

Nothing here screams Snelling.

"When Justin Upton faces Lincecum, I think Christ might appear in the heavens, and the world will end." -JakeFree

by JT12340 on Mar 15, 2026 6:51 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

To be fair...

You say, “Aside from the broken collarbone, which he got from running into an OF wall making a spectacular catch…” Doesn’t that sound exactly like Snelling used to?

by aap212 on Mar 15, 2026 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great Article

http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/red_sox_ryan_westmoreland_03-15-10_5OHPEAD_v3.30148c0.html

Brett Anderson is the Truth. Brett Anderson is divine presence. Brett Anderson is eternal life. Brett Anderson is within you. Brett Anderson is here. Brett Anderson is Now.

by Frederick0220 on Mar 14, 2026 10:26 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great Link

Thanks for finding and sharing that. Really hope he gets some good news.

by gpellet41 on Mar 14, 2026 10:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup

Like I said - its the brain, so you never want to say anything with certainty, but the recovery rate is really, really high and the mortality rate is really, really low. This isn’t cancer. It doesn’t spread. It won’t come back.

It does have a really scary name that sounds like a horror movie and must be frightening as hell to a 19 year old kid.

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by alskor on Mar 15, 2026 1:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

except it does come back if not fully excised

And what everyone seems to be ignoring is not only it in the worst possible place but that based on the location it wouldn’t be operated on. It’s normal to leave it there. I guess since it would possibly end his baseball career it was deemed an acceptable risk? No idea.

But this is major surgery and losing out on a full season and being healthy is a best case scenario IMO.

by pedrophile on Mar 15, 2026 1:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It can grow back if not fully removed, yes..

…but that based on the location it wouldn’t be operated on. It’s normal to leave it there.

From what I’ve read it seems that once symptoms appear they typically operate. Its location on the brain stem is more dangerous, yes, but I find nowhere that it says anything like it would be “normal to leave it there.” Nor do I believe that to be true. It seems that it would be very dangerous to leave it there and I doubt this is a baseball related decision.

From the article: