KIA Tigers’ Kim Do-yeong Named KBO League MVP for August

Kim Do-yeong of the KIA Tigers has been named the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League MVP for August, beating Doosan Bears pitcher Kwak Bin in the combined voting.

Kim received 10 of 35 votes from the media panel, or 28.6 percent, and 277,640 of 495,144 fan votes, or 56.1 percent. His final score was 42.32, well ahead of Kwak’s 23.89.

Kim led the KIA lineup throughout August with a .321 batting average and six home runs. His home-run total tied for first in the month, while his 16 runs and .714 slugging percentage ranked first outright.

He also set a personal record on Aug. 26 against the Lotte Giants in Gwangju, hitting his 39th home run of the season and surpassing the 38 homers he hit in 2024. He now needs one more home run to become the first South Korean batter in eight years to reach 40 in a season, following Kim Jae-hwan, Park Byung-ho and Han Yoo-seom in 2018.

The award is Kim’s third monthly MVP honor, after winning in March-April and June 2024. Among KIA players, only Yang Hyeon-jong has won the award more often, with five selections. Kim will receive 3 million won and a trophy, while Shinhan Bank will donate 2 million won in his name to Gwangju Dongseong Middle School, his alma mater.