Lions slugger Diaz voted KBO's top player for Sept.-Oct.

Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions is congratulated by teammates after hitting a three-run home run against NC Dinos during the clubs' Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular-season game at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Sept.18. Yonhap

Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions was named the top player in South Korean baseball for the final month of the regular season on Monday.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Diaz beat out seven other candidates for the Player of the Month honor for the September-October period. The Dominican first baseman is the first foreign player for the Lions to win this award.

Diaz earned 30 out of 35 votes cast by members of the Korea Baseball Writers Association, and 286,323 votes out of 530,365 votes submitted online by fans. Those totals were converted to 69.85 voting points, and Austin Dean of the LG Twins finished a distant second with 7.39 points.

Over the final full month of the regular season and then one game in October, Diaz ranked first in the KBO with 27 RBIs, an .838 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage. He also tied for second with seven home runs and ranked third with 28 hits and a .412 batting average.

Diaz made history by setting the single-season RBI record with 158. He also smacked 50 home runs to become the first foreign player to reach the half-century mark in homers in the KBO.

Diaz will receive 3 million won ($2,100) in prize money.