Lee Jae-hak (32), the ‘original ace’ who has been with NC Dinos since its founding, will continue to accompany the team. He couldn’t hide his joy.

Lee Jae-hak said in a phone call with Star News after the FA contract announcement on the 16th, “I feel so good to be able to work with NC Dinos again.”

On this day, NC announced that it had signed a contract with Lee Jae-hak for a period of 2+1 years and a maximum of 900 million won. The details of the contract are 550 million won for 2 years of guarantee and 350 million won for total options including execution of the 3rd year contract.

Lee Jae-hak, who started his professional career with the Doosan Bears in 2010, moved to NC, a new team, through the second draft at the end of 2011. After winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2013 with 10 wins, 5 losses, 1 save and an ERA of 2.88, he recorded double-digit multipliers for four consecutive years. Lee Jae-hak has been active as NC’s native ace for several years.

Lee Jae-hak could not sign a contract for a month after the free agent market opened. It was because the club focused on contracts with Yang Eui-ji (35, Doosan) and Park Min-woo (29) in the early days. However, NC expressed its will to catch Lee Jae-hak among the remaining free agents, which eventually led to execution.

Lee Jae-hak, who said, “There are players who signed large-scale contracts in front of me, so I thought I would do it a little later.” Then he laughed, saying, “(When the contract offer came), it was nice to leave the condition.”

Lee Jae-hak has shown a somewhat disappointing appearance in recent years. He was mediocre overall even in the 2022 season (3 wins, 8 losses, ERA 4.75), but in May (average ERA 9.26) and after September (average ERA 10.13), his sluggishness was great.

Lee Jae-hak, who confessed, “The last 2-3 years have been a bit disappointing,” said, “But personally, I feel that I am getting better little by little as the years go by.” He continued, “He has confidence, but he has a lot of regrets, so I want to make up for that part.”

NC, which was once a regular customer of fall baseball, had to become a spectator in the postseason for the last two seasons. Lee Jae-hak, who mentioned this, said, “It’s a team that went to fall baseball every year, and good players went out, but new players came in and there are many young players.” He then expressed his expectation, “If we come together with experience and strength, we will have another good season.”

Lee Jae-hak has pitched in 6 games in his career in the postseason, but he has yet to enter the Korean Series entry. Expressing his regret, he said, “If you are a player, you will think that you want to play in the Korean series.” 토토

As Noh Jin-hyeok (33, Lotte) and Won Jong-hyun (35, Kiwoom) left the free agency market this year, Lee Jae-hak now became a founding member with only four remaining members of the team (Lee Jae-hak, Kim Seong-wook, Lee Min-ho, and Park Min-woo). Lee Jae-hak, who brought out their names, said, “I wanted to stay in NC longer because I’ve been together since the team was founded.” In addition “

Finally, Lee Jae-hak said to the NC fans, “I am so fortunate to be able to play again and meet the fans again.” I will do it,” he said.