"The club took care of me." The new groom Ha Joo-seok, who laughed at the annual salary negotiation, has only one goal: to drive 'Hanwha Championship'

*This content was translated by AI.

I even thought about retiring just a year ago. Therefore, it was a very valuable year for Ha Joo-seok (32, Hanwha Eagles), and his wife was at the center of it.

Ha Joo-seok met with Star News at a fan invitation event held at a kalguksu restaurant near Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 16th.

Ha Joo-seok, who signed a 100-year relationship with cheerleader Kim Yeon-jung early last month, said he went to Hawaii for his honeymoon and later spent as much time as possible with his wife, taking rest and training.

He proudly appeared in the free agent market a year ago, but the market's response was cold. Although he thought about retiring, his wife persuaded him to do more, and eventually signed a one-year contract with Hanwha for a total of 110 million won.

Ha Joo-seok, who was desperate, only received a call-up in April and was notified of his move to the second division again, but he stayed in the first division again in May until the end of the season. He played in 95 games and had a batting average of 0.297, the sharpest hitting feeling in nearly a decade.

As a result, it was more influential than FA Shim Woo-joon (31), who Hanwha recruited for up to 5 billion won for four years, and will be able to spend a warm winter driving the team to advance to the Korean Series for the first time in 19 years. It was stamped at 100 million won and 200 million won, up 122.22% from 90 million won last year.

Ha said, "I think it's a polar opposite from a year ago.I think everyone will think so, he said. "There is nothing much different from before marriage, but if I used to be alone, I feel very secure and more responsibility to wait at home now. I love it," he said with a smile.

It was last season, which I prepared with more earnestness, and it became a more precious year. Ha Joo-seok said, "I thought a lot about what I had to do, and I didn't think there was much I could change about any environment or the circumstances around me," adding, "I focused only on what I should do and what kind of baseball I should play." Such a posture worked in a good way for me. "I didn't give up and held out more and did my best in it, so I had a good opportunity and I thought I should focus only on what I'm going to do in the future," he said.

It was very regrettable exactly a year ago, but now that I have a family, I am smiling in the salary negotiations. Ha Joo-seok said, "I was fully aware of the part you cared about. "I'm so grateful," he said, "I'll prepare better and show good performance so that I can sign a better contract next year."

It was an off-season where there was not enough time than others. Hanwha will leave for Australia on the 23rd for the first camp. After building up in Australia, which has a mild climate, he plans to increase the level of completion along with the actual practice at the second camp in Okinawa, Japan, on the 18th of next month.

It's a very important time for the team and for themselves. Cody Ponce (Toronto) and Ryan Weiss (Houston), who were the best one-two punches, left, but expectations remain as new foreign players wore Hanwha uniforms and Kang Baek-ho joined.

Ha Joo-seok said, "I think this season is very important not only for me but also for Hanwha Eagles. I think all the players will want to do it again because they had a good experience of autumn baseball, he said. "I think those parts will be the driving force for all the players to work harder to prepare for the new season."

I plan to continue what I've felt over the past year next season. "Of course, there are parts that need to be done better, but rather than being greedy, I think we should prepare well to play as many games as possible without any pressure," he said. "I think it's more important for me to help the team overcome the championship because the team finished second unfortunately last year."

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*This content was translated by AI.