With a group of Red Sox officials getting a chance to watch him for the first time, Ryan Westmoreland took a series of soft-toss swings on Tuesday on the field at LeLacheur Park, the home of the short-season Single-A Lowell Spinners. It was a fitting spot for his return to organized baseball given the way he lit up the New York-Penn League with the Spinners a year ago.

Still less than six months removed from surgery to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain, Westmoreland slowly and gingerly took another step in his already amazing recovery. He has hit off a tee around 10 times since his surgery and now has taken soft toss two or three times, and he'll continue that this week in Lowell and this weekend in Greenville, S.C., with the Single-A affiliate he likely would have joined this season had he been healthy.

"I hit the ball pretty well," he said. "For being only 5 1/2 months out, I feel great. I'm not nearly in the shape I used to be, but, for being only six months out, I feel great."

"When it first happened, we never knew we'd get back to this spot," said Ron Westmoreland, Ryan's father. "A little over a year ago, I was up there telling people that I was the proudest guy in the stadium because he was making his professional debut. Today, I'm more proud -- and it has nothing to do with baseball. He's worked so hard to get back to something he loves to do."