– LG Twins slugger Austin Dean has been named the top player in South Korean baseball for August.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Tuesday that Dean beat out seven candidates for the Player of the Month award, making him the first foreign position player for the Twins to nab this trophy in five years.

Dean led all players by earning 12 out of 30 votes cast by media. In fan voting, Dean finished second with 89,233 votes, with the Kia Tigers pitcher James Naile leading the way with 183,367 votes. After the voting totals were converted to points, Dean came out on top with 29.06 points, about six points ahead of Naile.

In August, Dean led the KBO with 35 RBIs, a .745 slugging percentage and a 1.160 on-base plus slugging. He tied for the league lead with nine home runs in 24 games last month.

On Aug. 24, Dean became the first foreign hitter in Twins history to reach 30 homers and 100 RBIs in a season.

Prior to Tuesday’s action, Dean was leading the KBO with a franchise-record 121 RBIs and sat in fo
urth place with 31 home runs. He is also among the league leaders in batting average, runs, hits and slugging percentage.

This is Dean’s second season in the KBO. Last year, the American first baseman had 23 homers and 95 RBIs in the regular season, and then batted .350 with a homer and five RBIs in the Korean Series to help the Twins win their first championship since 1994.

Source: Yonhap News Agency