Pete has degree in short season

Can anyone possibly have a frame of reference for a season shortened by the pandemic?

Pete Alonso believes he’s “so, so prepared” for this unprecedented year in which every game counts much, much more thanks to one not-so-distant experience. College.

“Schedule-wise, I mean, I played 55, 60 game seasons in college,” Alonso, a Florida Gators standout, said. “Every pitch is just gonna matter a little bit more because it’s a smaller sample size.”

Inasmuch as anything can be analogous to this year, Alonso has a point. The college baseball typically stretches from February until May, lasting up to 56 games before additional playoff and tournament play. MLB’s regular season is just 60 games this year, down from its typical 162-game battle of attrition.

Alonso hit .374 with a .469 OBP across 58 games during his junior year, his last as a Gator before the Mets drafted him in the second round in 2016. The 14 home runs he crushed in

Gainesville were a hint of the power he’d use to electrify Queens on a nightly basis last season, breaking Aaron Judge’s rookie home run record and leading the big leagues with 53.

“You can’t necessarily compare college (baseball) to the big leagues,” Alonso said. But knowing how to sprint when professional American baseball has only trained you for marathons is an advantage.

“I’ve been in (a short season) type of environment before and I’m ready, I know how it’s gonna be,” the All-Star first baseman added. “Plenty of other guys on this team that have played college baseball know as well.”

Alonso’s right — Jacob deGrom converted into a pitcher over his three years at Stetson University while Marcus Stroman was drafted 22nd overall out of Duke. J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil and Michael Wacha are among the other college stars dotting the Mets roster.

“Those guys understand, and I feel like there’s gonna be a sense of urgency. All of us feel that and we know what we have to do to be the last team standing.”