Angels, Howie Kendrick agree to four-year deal

The Angels on Saturday reached agreement with second baseman Howie Kendrick on a four-year deal pending a physical, according to a person who is familiar with negotiations but could not speak publicly about them.

With the new contract, which is thought to be worth $33.5 million, the Angels will avoid Kendrick’s final year of arbitration and lock him up through his first three years of free agency.

General Manager Jerry Dipoto said last week that he had begun preliminary discussions with the agents for Kendrick and shortstop Erick Aybar about multiyear deals, and those negotiations obviously moved quickly with Larry Reynolds, Kendrick’s agent.

Kendrick, 28, hit .285 with a career-high 18 home runs and .464 slugging percentage, 30 doubles and 63 runs batted in last season and made his first American League All-Star team.

He was probably the Angels’ most consistent offensive player, hitting above .300 in the first half of the season, and his average hovering in the .295 range for most of the second half.

Kendrick made $3.3 million in 2011 and was expected to push his salary to the $5.1-million range in arbitration this winter.

He is a career .292 hitter in six big league seasons, with a .329 on-base percentage, 50 home runs, 163 doubles and 305 RBIs, and he has improved defensively each season.

Kendrick has always been known as a line-drive gap hitter, and before last season, his career high for home runs was 10 in 2009 and 2010. But he had a power surge in the final six weeks of 2011, hitting 10 of his homers from Aug. 17 through the end of the season.

Kendrick has also shown surprising versatility, starting 64 games in his career at first base, a position he had never played until reaching the big leagues in 2006, and 20 games in left field when Vernon Wells went on the disabled list last May.

The Angels have 15 players under contract for about $130 million in 2012, and three — Aybar, third baseman Alberto Callaspo and first baseman Kendrys Morales — eligible for arbitration. The payroll is expected to be between $150 million and $160 million.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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