KT Wiz's Hilliard named KBO's Player of the Month

KT Wiz outfielder Sam Hilliard was named Korean baseball's top player for the final month of the regular season Tuesday.

The KBO said Hilliard won the voting for the Player of the Month honor for the September-October period. The regular season ended Oct. 12.

In 32 games during that period, Hilliard led the KBO with 14 home runs and 40 RBIs, while ranking second with 33 runs scored and a .697 slugging percentage. He had the third-most hits with 43.

For the season, Hilliard won the RBI title with 139 and finished second with 44 home runs.

Hilliard earned 11 out of 35 votes from the media, and 271,145 out of 460,484 votes cast by fans online, for a total of voting 45.16 points.

SSG Landers starting pitcher Pedro Avila finished second with 24.88 points.

With Hilliard leading the offense down the stretch, the Wiz cruised to the best record in the regular season at 90-49-5 (wins-losses-ties), and won their final 10 games.

Hilliard was also the Player of the Month for July. The U.S. slugger is the first foreign player to win the top monthly award twice in the same season since the KBO started handing out the prize in 2010.

Hilliard will receive 3 million won ($2,260) in prize money along with a trophy.

Yonhap