Angels 1B Kendry Morales not a lock to be ready for opening day

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Manager Mike Scioscia said Monday morning that he has ‘no doubt’ Kendry Morales, who missed most of last season after breaking his lower left leg on May 29, ‘will be 100% by the start of the season.’

Listening to Morales as he addressed reporters for the first time this spring, that prediction seemed a little ambitious.

Morales, who has a five-inch scar just above his left ankle and a pin and six screws inside the ankle from the June surgery, has been running at ‘only 50%,’ and the switch-hitter, speaking through a translator, said the Angels ‘don’t want me to run’ in camp yet. He is not expected to begin fielding drills for another week to 10 days.

‘I’m not really feeling any pain, but I feel tightness and a lack of flexibility,’ said Morales, who has put on 10 pounds since last season and is up to about 235 pounds. ‘As I work out and the inflammation goes down, I should regain that mobility.’

Does Morales, who hit .306 with 34 home runs and 108 RBIs in 2009 and is considered one of the keys to the Angels’ season, feel like he’ll be OK by opening day?

‘I’m not the one to make that decision, but I hope I’m ready by then,’ he said. ‘But I know it could be a possibility [that I’m not ready].’

For more on Morales later today, go to www.latimes.com/sports.

-- Mike DiGiovanna in Tempe, Ariz.