Busan: Lotte Giants ace Alec Gamboa on Tuesday was named the top player in South Korean baseball for June. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said the American left-hander beat out five other candidates for the Player of the Month award for June. Gamboa joined the Giants in May in place of injured Charlie Barnes, and he went 5-0 with a 1.72 ERA in June -- leading the KBO in both wins and ERA for the month. He ranked second with 31 1/3 innings pitched in that month.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Gamboa received 30 out of 35 votes cast by members of the Korea Baseball Writers Association and received 105,152 out of 429,664 votes submitted by fans, for the converted voting points of 55.09 points. Kia Tigers reliever Jeon Sang-hyun finished a distant second with 26.05 points, after earning one vote from the media and 211,595 votes from fans. Jeon led all relievers in June with 15 appearances and nine holds.

The KBO will award Gamboa with a trophy and 3 million won (US$2,195) in prize money. Gamboa is the first Giants player to win the top monthly award since pitcher Na Gyun-an for April 2023.