UPDATE: The Red Sox issued the following statement on Tuesday night about outfielder Ryan Westmoreland's surgery:

“According to the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ, Red Sox minor league outfielder Ryan Westmoreland today underwent successful surgery to remove a cavernous malformation in his brain. Dr. Robert Spetzler performed the surgery. The announcement was made by General Manager Theo Epstein. Following the five-hour procedure, Westmoreland remains in the intensive care unit but has come through the surgery well. Due to the complexity of this surgery, Ryan will face a difficult period initially before beginning his recovery.”

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- It has been an incredibly anxious day for the Red Sox, and it has nothing to do with baseball.

On Tuesday morning, 19-year-old Ryan Westmoreland went into surgery in Phoenix, Ariz., under the supervision of Dr. Robert Spetzler of the Barrow Neurological Institute for a cavernous malformation in his brain. ESPN.com reported on Sunday that the condition is located in Westmoreland’s brain stem, an area of such great sensitivity that either brain damage or even death are possible.

On a day when there were no games at the minor-league complex, the attention of Sox minor leaguers and team officials was clearly directed towards the health and well-being of Westmoreland, whose incredible talents as a player have, for now, become secondary to his well-being as a person. There have been group prayers at the minor league complex in recent days, with players trying to remain hopeful about the health of the outfielder.

Westmoreland’s friends eagerly awaited news from his surgery. One such player was first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who became close to the outfielder this spring.

“This spring, in February, we grew real close,” said Rizzo. “I was actually right next to him in the training room when this was going on, when they were testing him. I said, ‘What’s wrong.’ Then …”

Rizzo paused.

“It hit a lot of us hard,” he said.

Rizzo, who is with the Sox’ split squad team in Port Charlotte to play the Rays on Tuesday evening, is a cancer survivor, having been treated successfully for Hodgkins Disease in 2008. He returned from his months of chemotherapy to emerge as one of the top Sox prospects in 2009.

Yet even Rizzo acknowledges that there was an element of the unknown that made Westmoreland’s condition more frightening than his own. He has sent a few texts to his teammate, encouraging him to remain positive no matter how scared he might be.

“I don’t know what he’s going through, but I can relate to what he’s going through. I can’t imagine what is going through his head, but I told him to stay strong for his family,” said Rizzo. “[But] it’s a lot different, what he’s going through.

“I kind of knew what to expect with what I went through. With this surgery, he has no idea what’s on the other side. I knew, for me, with chemo, what to expect, especially for the first time with how it would react. With him, no one knows any details on how he’s going to come out.”

That has left a feeling of confusion and some powerlessness among those who await news about the outcome of Westmoreland’s surgery. Westmoreland’s friends are trying to convey messages of hope to one another, even as they recognize the uncertainty that looms.

“Earlier, I was talking to his best friend here. I said, ‘The Red Sox are 2-for-2 so far with getting people healthy, with myself and Lester,’” said Rizzo, knocking on wood as a reflection of his excellent health. “I’m sure there will be [good news]. There will be.”

The stories of Rizzo and Lester are being cited as cause for optimism. For both players, their careers have resumed as if unimpeded by their illnesses. Both are incredibly strong, their bodies showing no evidence of what they once endured.

Westmoreland’s case is different, of course, his surgery fraught with more that is unknown. But as the wait for news of the 19-year-old’s prognosis continues, members of the Sox will seek anything that might offer hope. For that, they think not of the medical terminology and risks, but instead of Westmoreland himself.

“He’s a good kid. He’s a smart, New England kid,” said Rizzo. “And he’s a strong kid, I know that.”