This is what you need to know about Ike Davis. He’s healthy for the first time in a long time: no valley fever, no ankle issues, and this season he’s not settling for less.
Davis is determined to raise his batting average and break the 100 RBI mark.
“Finally,’’ Davis told The Post with a shout. “I’m healthy.’’
Imagine that, some positive Mets’ news.
“My lungs look good,’’ Davis said via telephone from his home in Arizona. “My ankle feels good, I’m in shape. I’m strong and back to being kind of athletic. This is the first time in two years that nothing crazy has happened. It feels good to start fresh, there are no what-ifs going into spring training.’’
Davis was batting .302 in 2011 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs over 36 games when his season ended on May 10 as he collided with David Wright and suffered a sprain and bone bruise with cartilage damage in the left ankle joint. Then things really got strange as Davis came into spring training last February dealing with valley fever issues.
The first baseman got off to a dreadful start but managed to hit 32 home runs, knock in 90 runs as he batted .227. Davis hit .185 in April and .154 in May with a total of five home runs the first two months of the season. He batted .253 the rest of the way.
Davis, 25, is a natural slugger and they are hard to come by these days, especially for the power-outage Mets. “It’s interesting after the steroid ban how the homers went down, but it’s nice for me because I don’t know if I would ever hit 50 home runs,’’ Davis said.
He said his average must go up and added: “I want to break 100 RBIs, but that truly depends on the team we have and if I can capitalize on the situation. It’s tough, especially with the pitchers we face.’’
Davis said he feels good about these Mets, he really does.
“Honestly, we’re getting younger, which is exciting,’’ said Davis, who will be honored at the Thurman Munson Awards Dinner Feb. 5 at the Grand Hyatt. The dinner hits home with him because his dad Ron pitched to Thurman and was just a young Yankee that horrible day Munson died in a plane crash. Davis said Munson’s wife Diana always was good to his mom.
“When my mom was the new girl to the team wives, Mrs. Munson made her feel really comfortable, she was so kind,’’ Davis explained. “When my mom heard about this she was like, ‘I’m so excited about seeing her and being able to thank her for being so kind and being warm and welcoming to the team family.’ ’’
With young pitchers Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler and catcher Travis d’Arnaud coming into play, Davis will welcome them with open arms.
“Young players could come in and be an All-Star right off the bat and have amazing seasons like (Mike) Trout,’’ Davis said. “We’re going to miss R.A. (Dickey), you’re always going to miss a guy who wins the Cy Young, but I’m excited. I’m excited to play with these guys. I think we have a lot of energy and it’s going to be cool. We’re going to be fine.
“Lucas Duda just needs to get hot, he’s going to be a monster, we’re going to have a good core,’’ Davis said. “You never know, we could do what we did in the first half last year.’’
As for Harvey, Davis added: “He’s the kind of guy you want on the mound. He’s just angry and has that great starter’s mentality. He’s a bulldog.
“We’re definitely the underdog,’’ Davis acknowledged. “No one is giving us a shot, but I like it. I like battling uphill.’’
Ike Davis is healthy, so that hill is not quite as steep.