NC Strawberry makes comeback to first division after two years! Confirmed as 'starter' in Daejeon Hanwha game "It took longer than I thought... I'm excited too"

*This content was translated by AI.

NC Dinos franchise star Lee Jae-hak (36) expressed excitement ahead of his first start in about two years.

Ahead of the Seoul LG Twins game on the 25th, Lee Jae-hak smiled broadly and said, "The rehabilitation process was tough, but I'm also excited. I'm trying to prepare without any major issues. I've been working hard."

His last first-division appearance was on October 1, 2024—about two years ago. Lee Jae-hak felt pain in his elbow during the 2025 spring training and returned home early. Ultimately, he underwent Tommy John surgery (ligament reconstruction) in April of last year, with a goal to return in May this year.

However, various injuries plagued him. In May this year, while doing live pitching, his right index fingernail broke, halting rehabilitation. When he returned in June, he felt discomfort in his right forearm and made his comeback in the Futures League match against Samsung Lions 2nd Division at Masan on the 20th. His stats from that game were 3 innings pitched, 3 hits allowed (1 home run), 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 2 earned runs. He threw a total of 51 pitches.

Although NC initially planned for him to pitch 70 or even 90 innings before his first start, the team decided on an early return to the first division. This was because building up his workload during the second half of the season proved difficult due to heatwaves and other breaks. Lee Jae-hak candidly shared his feelings: "At first, I got impatient. I tried not to be impatient, but it wasn't easy. As a result, my rehabilitation didn't go smoothly."

Putting aside the difficult rehabilitation process and the new preparations made after Tommy John surgery, Lee Jae-hak reflected, "I tried to make adjustments, but things didn't go as planned. So there won't be major changes. For now, my goal is to regain my game feel as much as possible. There were both good and lacking parts in my 2nd division appearances."

Lee Ho-jun, NC's manager, welcomed Lee Jae-hak's return. The manager said, "Jae-hak threw over 50 pitches in the 2nd division. We told him it wasn't a strain, and we wanted to see him throw 70 pitches as well. However, many 2nd division games were canceled during this period, so we decided to bring forward his schedule. He will start against Daejeon Hanwha and aim to throw under 70 pitches."

Lee Jae-hak is a representative franchise star of the newly established NC team when he entered the KBO League in 2013. Loved by fans with the nickname "Strawberry," he has accumulated 84 wins exclusively with NC. He was the club's first Rookie of the Year (2013) and led the team to its first-ever unified championship, making him one of the players who shared NC's firsts alongside Park Min-woo (33).

Although he has now become the most senior player on the team, the two-year gap was certainly not insignificant. Lee Jae-hak said, "I still can't fully realize it. The break lasted longer than I thought. So I'm just trying to prepare as naturally as water flows."

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*This content was translated by AI.