Thor’ s back!

101 mph

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — About the only restraint Noah Syndergaard showed Monday was keeping on his pants during the postgame interview.

After throwing a barrage of 100-mph fastballs at the Astros in his first outing of spring training, the Mets ace ran sprints bare-chested on a field near the visitors’ clubhouse at Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and said it was too hot to wear a shirt for his session with reporters, which included the SNY camera.

Why not? If Syndergaard is going to throw like this all season, bare-chested can be the new Mets formal wear.

Overall he threw 22 pitches, 11 of which registered at least 100 mph. Syndergaard, who fired two shutout innings with two strikeouts, topped out at 101 mph on successive pitches to Jose Altuve in the first.

“A couple of times I saw the radar gun, but I didn’t even feel like I was exerting a whole lot of effort,” Syndergaard said. “I felt like I was pretty under control with my delivery for the most part.”

It was a welcome sign of spring for the Mets, who played most of the 2017 season with Syndergaard on the disabled list rehabbing from a torn right lat.

Though manager Mickey Callaway initially was alarmed when he saw the radar readings on the scoreboard, he did not seem concerned Syndergaard was throwing so hard at this early stage in spring training.

“My heart might have been beating a little fast when I saw 100, 101, but I look more at the delivery and if he’s trying to overthrow, and he wasn’t doing any of that, so it was really good,” Callaway said.

Syndergaard committed to flexibility exercises in his offseason workouts, a year after reporting to camp boasting of the 17 extra pounds of muscle mass he had added.

After throwing mostly heat in the first inning, Syndergaard dabbled with his slider and offspeed pitches in the second. His first four pitches of the game registered 100 mph before mixing in a changeup and then returning to triple-digits.

“For the most part, my game plan was to go out there and salvage my heater,” Syndergaard said. “We are early in spring training, so that is the most important part, going out there with a game plan and following it.

“I was definitely putting in a lot of effort, but it didn’t feel like I was doing a whole lot. Most of the time I was falling off to the first-base side and I caught myself finishing a pitch and being under control and having everything go toward one place.”

Not lost on Syndergaard was the fact he pitched against Justin Verlander, the 2011 Cy Young award winner with a similarly nasty arsenal.

“That guy has been a stud pitcher for many years,” Syndergaard said. “He actually said hi to me in the outfield, so that was pretty cool, just from a pitcher like that.”

The Mets are counting on Syndergaard to rebound into the form he displayed in 2015 and ‘16, when he was the most electric starting pitcher in the majors. Much of the team’s hopes for this season hinge on having the 1-2 combo of Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom atop the rotation, giving the Mets a dynamic duo that can rival any.

Syndergaard sustained his torn lat on April 30 in Washington last season — only days after ignoring the team’s suggestion he receive an MRI exam on his sore shoulder — and didn’t return to the Mets until the final week-plus of the regular season, when he made two abbreviated appearances.

“I did think those two appearances at the end of last year were huge, because I worked my tail off for those four months and it was nice getting rewarded for my hard work,” Syndergaard said. “And it was nice going to the offseason knowing that I was healthy and not having to follow a rehab program.”