Furcal opens camp healthy, optimistic

VERO BEACH, Fla. – Holding an imaginary bat in his hands, Rafael Furcal was in his left-handed batting stance in front of his locker.

Rocking back and shifting his weight onto his back foot, Furcal said, “I couldn’t do this last year.”

The healing of his left ankle, which was sprained for most of last season, was one of the reasons the 30-year-old Dodger shortstop offered for being so optimistic about the upcoming season. Reporting to camp this morning, Furcal ran into closer Takashi Saito as he was about to walk into the clubhouse.

“We’re going to win this year,” Furcal told Saito.

Furcal went down with an ankle injury last spring when he collided with Jason Repko in the outfield. The shortstop started the season on the disabled list but was still hurt when he was activated and never fully recovered.

Furcal, who stole 83 bases in the two previous seasons combined, finished 2007 with only 25 steals. A switch hitter, he batted only .254 from the left side of the plate.

But, Furcal said, “I feel 100% now.”

Whatever doubts he had about his ankle subsided in winter ball as he played for Aguilas Cibaenas in his native Dominican Republic. Furcal hit .361 and stole three bases in eight regular-season games. He batted .400 in the Caribbean Series that concluded early this month.

“I call winter ball the second big leagues,” Furcal said. “Because over there, everybody you face is a big leaguer… . You feel like you’re in the big leagues.”

Furcal also was encouraged by the Dodgers’ signing of Andruw Jones, his former neighbor and teammate with the Atlanta Braves.

Furcal said that Jones took him under his wing when he broke into the big leagues in 2000 and that he thought of him “like a brother.”

Jones called Furcal his “little brother.”

But when birth certificates became required to get a work visa in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it was revealed that Furcal was two years older than previously believed.

“I was like, ‘We’re almost the same age,’ ” Jones said. “But he’s still like my little brother.”

Furcal is in the final year of his three-year, $39-million contract. He said he would like to re-sign with the Dodgers and would be open to negotiating an extension this spring.

“But during the season,” he said, “I want to just have my mind on the game.”

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com