Ryan Westmoreland at Northeastern

Frisbetarian

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Dec 3, 2003
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Off the beaten track
Cool article by Ian Thompson about what Ryan Westmoreland is up to these days. He is currently enrolled in a Northeastern University partnership with MLB that enables current and former players to earn degrees.

I am definitely biased, as Ryan is a good friend (my brain bleed brother), but I think he was the best Red Sox OF prospect I ever saw in my many decades following the team. It’s wonderful to see him flourishing in life after all he’s endured, with a coaching gig at UMass Dartmouth, a phenomenal supportive caring wife, and a 2nd daughter on the way this spring.

The Northeastern program looks awesome, as well. From the article:

“The first-of-its-kind partnership between Northeastern and MLB is designed to help players invest in new careers after baseball. The program enables players to work toward a bachelor’s or graduate degree at Northeastern, in-person or online. The university provides one-on-one access to academic and career coaching that is tailored to each student’s goals. Tuition and other costs can be covered by a continuing education program in baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.

More than 120 current or former professional ballplayers have enrolled in the Northeastern-MLB partnership, and at least 33 have graduated. The students include little-known minor-leaguers, as well as Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the catcher of the 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox, and Carlos Peña, the Northeastern Hall-of-Famer who became an All-Star during his 14-year Major League career.”

Ryan is the toughest, most resilient man I know. It’s fantastic to see him winning at life.
 

simplicio

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Apr 11, 2012
4,711
That's really cool, I'm glad to see this type of investment, especially for minor league players.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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Jul 21, 2005
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Ryan is the toughest, most resilient man I know. It’s fantastic to see him winning at life.
I have no doubt this is true. Those top prospect lists are filled with guys that for whatever reason never pan out - they can hit AA pitching but not MLB stuff, they never develop a good secondary pitch and so on. Coming to grips with that for them is I'm sure enough of a struggle. To lose that dream overnight, as well going from having elite athletic skills to not being able to do many routine tasks is just a whole different level of change thrust upon a 19 year old. The fact that he's doing what he's doing today, along with the attitude he does it with, is amazing.
 

8slim

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Nov 6, 2001
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Unreal America
Thanks so much for sharing. Reading through what he deals with on a daily basis in terms of vision and balance... I can't even imagine. His resilience is unbelievable.