Pete Alonso’s Home Run Derby pitcher swapped after coach’s injury

Pete Alonso’s attempt at a third Home Run Derby title just got a little harder.

The Mets first baseman revealed on Monday — hours before the slugfest begins — that his pitcher, Mike Friedlein, will not be available to throw after dealing with a forearm flareup.

“His arm just kinda blew up and is super swollen,” Alonso said in an interview aired on “Baseball Tonight.”

“It’s a tough decision I was like, if you throw as many pitches today, you could hurt yourself. So I was just like listen, there’s gonna be more Derbies to come. We’ll do it another time.”

Instead, Mets assistant Aaron Myers will be tasked with serving up meatballs to Alonso’s waiting bat.

For Freidlein, it means a promise made by a teenaged Alonso in the batting cage in Davis Island, Florida will have to wait.

“When I was a kid, I made a promise to him when he was throwing me batting practice,” Alonso said on July 3. “It’s one of those things when you’re a kid and you kind of daydream and wish something would happen. Now that it’s here, I want to keep good on my promise.”

Joining Ken Griffey Jr. as the only sluggers to win the Derby three times would certainly ease the blow.

Alonso, who won in 2019 and in 2021, entered the All-Star break third in home runs with 26, trailing only National League leader Matt Olson’s 29 and Shohei Ohtani’s MLB-leading 32.