Ike Davis confident he can avoid ankle surgery

We may finally have some resolution in the great Ike Davis ankle saga of 2011.

Davis, who hasn’t played since May 11 due to a bone bruise in his left ankle, told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com today that he is confident he will be able to avoid surgery. The 24-year-old first baseman has been pain-free for the past two weeks and resumed baseball activities over the weekend.

“Right now, all we can do is try to do the best thing for my career,” he said. “The best thing is not to have surgery right now. If it stays like this, I won’t have to.”

Davis still needs to visit team doctors when the Mets return home to New York later this week, but barring a setback, he plans to have a normal offseason before gearing up for spring training.

We’ll never know what Davis would have done had he played the entire season, but he was off to a tremendous start before his freak collision with teammate David Wright, batting .302/.383/.543 with seven home runs, 25 RBI and a .925 OPS over his first 149 plate appearances. The Mets are hoping 2012 isn’t nearly as cruel.