Chattanooga Lookouts outfielder Max Kepler was named Thursday afternoon as the Southern League's most valuable player.
Kepler becomes the fourth Lookouts player to win the honor, joining outfielder Brady Clark (1999), first baseman Joey Votto (2006) and outfielder Scott Van Slyke (2011).
"Max made a tremendous adjustment to his swing and stuck with it the whole season," Lookouts hitting coach Chad Allen said. "He has been a pleasure to coach because of all the hard work he put in this year and definitely deserves this award."
The Lookouts opened their final homestand of the regular season Thursday night, losing to the Jackson Generals 5-2 before an announced crowd of 1,907 at AT&T Field. The German-born Kepler went 1-for-3 with a triple, and he also drew a walk.
Jordy Lara's home run to left-center field to lead off the second inning put Jackson up 1-0. The Generals extended their advantage to 3-0 in the sixth on a two-run homer to left-center by Aderlin Rodriguez.
The first-half North Division champion Lookouts dropped to 31-34 in the second half and are 74-59 overall.
Kepler entered Thursday leading the Southern League with a .327 average and ranking among the top 10 also in hits (128), extra-base hits (53), total bases (211), runs scored (73), doubles (32), triples (12), RBIs (69) and walks (60). He earned player of the week honors in May and June and was selected to the Futures Game and the Southern League All-Star Game.
Biloxi's Jorge Lopez and Carlos Subero were voted pitcher and manager of the year, respectively. Subero managed the Lookouts from 2010 to '12.