"It hurt me...made you want to get angry" - When Pete Alonso's friend Michael Pepe was heartbroken by him being called 'fat boy'

Things have not always been easy for big-league slugger Pete Alonso. While the four-time All-Star has had a successful career in the MLB thus far, his childhood tested him.

As a youngster, Alonso had a bit of an awkward body. He was bigger than most his age, and he was the subject of teasing and name-calling, which he kept a mental note of.

Alonso heard every big and fat insult under the sun. It did not seem to bother him on the outside, but it did his childhood friend, Michael Pepe. Via an interview with ESPN's Buster Olney, Pepe discussed how he felt when he heard his friend being made fun of.

"[It] hurt me in the inside. It really did. It hurt me for him. It made you want to get angry, but Pete was never the one to get angry. That was something I had learned from Pete," said Pepe.

Hearing his friend get made fun of really got to Pepe. However, Alonso taught him a valuable lesson in never giving people the satisfaction of allowing to see they got you down.

"No matter what you said to Pete, he would just shrug it off," said Pepe.

Pete Alonso learned to internalize early

Four-Time All-Star - Pete Alonso (Photo via IMAGN)

Pete Alonso's hardships growing up taught him a valuable lesson on the baseball field. He was able to internalize things and use them as extra motivators when he was out on there.

"I internalized a lot of things. I didn't fight back. I also have a high pain tolerance, [if] I was punched or kicked or something like that before, it didn't hurt physically..," said Alonso.

However, it did start to affect him mentally.

"..But it hurt mentally. That's stuff that I still remember who exactly did it. I still remember who and I remember what" said Alosno.

To this day, Alonso still remembers all the names he was called and by whom. So, if you were one of the kids teasing the slugger growing up, you may be partly responsible for his success in the big leagues.

In just over six seasons, Alonso has hit 226 home runs, ranking him 27th amongst active players. He sits ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani with one less season under his belt. Whoever is lucky enough to sign him this winter is getting an elite bat.