Rookies Think About Winter Plans

The gripping pennant race hasn’t kept Dodgers rookies from taking a moment to plan their off-season. Matt Kemp and James Loney want to play in a winter league, Russell Martin and Andre Ethier will lift weights together and pitchers Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo will take breaks from throwing.

Also, second-year outfielder Jason Repko, who is getting married in November, doesn’t plan to play winter ball because his ankle hasn’t completely healed.

The Dodgers are looking for opportunities in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela for Kemp and Loney. Dodgers first base coach Mariano Duncan is likely to coach in the Dominican Winter League and the Dodgers would like to see the two rookies play for him.

Loney, whose primary position is first base, would spend time playing in the outfield. Kemp, who is expected to battle for the starting center field job next spring, would continue working on plate discipline.

Martin will spend a few weeks with his parents in Montreal then move to the Phoenix area, where Ethier resides. Their baseball activity will be limited to occasional batting practice.

“I don’t feel a need to catch any more games this year,” Martin said. “I need my rest.”

Ethier’s weight has dropped from 213 pounds to just more than 200 since the beginning of the season and he wants build back up.

“I’ll do two-a-days in the weight room,” he said. “It’s all I do. I’ll take a week off then get right in the gym.”

Repko plans to begin physical therapy on his left ankle, which he injured May 9 climbing the center-field wall at Dodger Stadium in a vain attempt to catch a home run. He won’t play winter ball despite have only 122 at-bats this season.

“I’m only now not taping my ankle before every game,” he said. “It still feels stiff when I move it and it still clicks sometimes. I want to play it safe and have two months of physical therapy.”

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Aaron Sele got to know Eric Stults early this season when both pitchers were at triple-A Las Vegas. And he says Stults could perform well in his first start today.

“He’s got a great approach to pitching, great makeup,” Sele said. “And he is a fast learner who can make adjustments out there. He won’t beat himself.”

Manager Grady Little has a similar impression of Stults, who played baseball and basketball at tiny Bethel College in Indiana before the Dodgers drafted him in the 15th round in 2002.

“He won’t shy away from any hitter,” Little said. “And he has the quality pitches to get the job done.”

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Kuo didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning Friday night and Little said he would have pulled the rookie left-hander after 90 to 100 pitches even if he had a no-hitter going. Kuo, who has had two elbow ligament replacement surgeries, will have a similar pitch limit in his start Thursday at Chicago.

steve.henson@latimes.com