The 21 year old has scored a league-leading 22 goals in 38 appearances in his first season for Leyton Orient, who are 19th in the table in the third tier.
Nobody in the EFL has scored more league goals than Ballard, who is leading Championship forward Zan Vipotnik to win the EFL’s red boot award.
After picking up the award, Ballard said: “It’s an amazing achievement. To win one would have been amazing. It’s definitely not what I expected.”
Ballard left Saints last summer for a six-figure transfer fee, having registered 60 goals and 13 assists for the club’s under-21s and under-18s sides.
Dom Ballard scooped all the League One awards (Image: Ian Tuttle / EFL)
The former Reading, Blackpool and Cambridge loanee, who scored on his senior debut in 2022, fired Saints to the Premier League 2 play-off final.
But he entered the last year of his contract at St Mary’s, with Saints opting to cash in on the five-foot eight-inches number nine after limited loan success.
An initial fee of hundreds of thousands was backed up by clauses based on Ballard’s success, and may have included extra cash for goals and awards.
Saints also negotiated a hefty sell-on percentage clause, meaning they will receive a slice of whatever transfer fee Leyton Orient get for his next move.
Ballard’s success with the O’s is likely to attract interest from Championship clubs this summer, and could see the East London outfit offered millions.