Heroes' outfielder Lee Jung-hoo voted KBO's top player for September

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- Kiwoom Heroes outfielder Lee Jung-hoo was named the top player in South Korean baseball for September on Tuesday.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Lee prevailed over four candidates for the Player of the Month award for September after collecting 12 out of 32 votes from the media and 252,398 votes out of 415,522 votes cast by fans.

Lee's vote totals were converted to 49.12 points, with LG Twins starter Kim Yun-sik finishing second at 33.41 points. Kim led all candidates with 18 votes from the media but only garnered 43,920 votes from fans.

Lee also won the top monthly prize for June.

In this file photo from Sept. 30, 2022, Lee Jung-hoo of the Kiwoom Heroes celebrates after scoring a run against the SSG Landers during the top of the 10th inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, 30 kilometers west of Seoul. (Yonhap)

In September, Lee led the KBO in hits (38), batting average (.418), on-base percentage (.485) and slugging percentage (.714). He tied for the lead in runs (19) and RBIs (23). He hit safely in 21 out of 23 games last month and enjoyed a 13-game hitting streak from Sept. 14 to 30.

The leading MVP candidate finished the season as the KBO leader in batting average (.349), RBIs (113), hits (193), on-base percentage (.421) and slugging percentage (.575). Lee is the first back-to-back batting champion since Lee Dae-ho from 2010-2011 seasons.