On the strength of his record-setting performance, Kim Do-yeong of the Kia Tigers was named South Korean baseball's top player for the season's opening month Thursday. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Kim was the runaway winner of the Player of the Month award for the March-April period. Kim collected 23 out of 30 votes from the media, and 236,767 out of 448,880 votes cast by fans, easily outpacing six other candidates for the honor. Those voting totals were converted to 64.71 points, with Choi Jeong of the SSG Landers finishing a distant runner-up with 15.16 points. In his 31 games from the start of the season on March 23 to April 30, Kim ranked among the league leaders in several offensive categories, with 10 home runs (tied for third), 29 runs scored (second), a .638 slugging percentage (second), 44 hits (third) and 26 RBIs (tied for fourth). Most notably, Kim became the first KBO player ever to record at least 10 home runs and 10 steals within a single month. He swiped his 10th bag of the mon th on April 21 and then belted his 10th homer of the month four days later. Kim, 20, is the first Tiger to win this monthly award since Lee Chang-jin in July 2022. Kim received 2 million won (US$1,462) in prize money along with a trophy. Source: Yonhap News Agency