THE 2011 GOAL FOR RYAN WESTMORELAND: AN AT-BAT - 美國職棒

A couple weeks ago, Ryan Westmoreland told the Providence Journal that he was
nearing the point in time when he would be able to face live pitching. His
comments made it appear that the undertaking was imminent.

“They know I’m ready, and I know I’m ready,” Westmoreland told the paper.
“I’m physically and mentally ready — whether I hit the ball or not — to
get in the batter’s box again. To see a pitcher throw a ball at me from 60
feet away is going to be pretty special.”

That characterization may have been slightly premature, but it speaks to a
new dynamic in the course of the outfielder’s rehab.

Westmoreland recently sat down with members of the organization, who informed
him that as remarkable as his recovery had been to date, that its terms had
been dictated by those who were facilitating the rehab.

That had succeeded in crucial, fundamental respects, but, the team said,
Westmoreland would have to take the initiative to push his rehab forward if
he wanted to fulfill the long-term goal of returning to play in games. Since
that conversation, the outfielder has done just that, and his statements
about facing live pitching were representative of that fact.

At the time that Westmoreland made the statements to the Journal about taking
live batting practice, there was no defined timetable for him to face live
pitching. That remains the case.

Nonetheless, the 21-year-old — now 17 months removed from brain surgery —
is making progress, as he is taking hacks against a Hummer pitching machine
that fires both game-speed fastballs as well as breaking balls at the plate.
That remains quite different from the act of taking live batting practice
against a pitcher whose control is unpredictable, but it is a significant
step forward from the soft batting practice to which Westmoreland had been
limited as of spring training.

He will only be cleared to face live pitching once there is 100 percent
confidence in Westmoreland’s ability to get out of the way of a pitch at his
head. As of now, there is significant confidence but not yet certainty in the
outfielder’s ability to do that.

Even so, the player and team are looking ahead to a time when Westmoreland
will be able to not just meet that goal but exceed it.

The team and Westmoreland have now set a new soft goal for the 2011 season of
having an at-bat by the end of the year, whether in the Florida Instructional
League or the Dominican Instructional League. The success of the player’s
rehab this year will not be defined by his ability to meet that goal, but an
at-bat in a game is nonetheless now the target in order to give Westmoreland
something upon which he can build during the offseason.

The Sox set a similar goal a few years ago when first base prospect Anthony
Rizzo, then 18, missed most of the 2008 season while being treated for
cancer. He had a few at-bats at the end of the year for the Sox’
Instructional League team, including one in which he clubbed a double. The
Sox wanted Rizzo to have that sort of taste to guide his work that winter,
and to make the idea of being in games seem more tangible.

Now, a similar bar has been set for Westmoreland for the end of 2011. At this
point, it is too early to tell whether he will be able to reach that standard
this year, but it gives the Rhode Island native a well-defined mission for
the coming months and beyond.

球團與Westmoreland設下了一個新的目標

希望在年底的時候

能在佛羅里達的指導聯盟 或是多明尼加冬季聯盟出賽


希望Westmoreland能夠像08年的Rizzo一樣 順利復建!

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