Why This Superstar Pitcher for the Mets Started a Book Club

Noah Syndergaard, who has been sidelined by an injury, has turned to reading. “I am not just a robot-athlete baseball player,” he said.Credit...Noah K. Murray/Associated PressAt a private party this summer at Little Prince, a French restaurant in SoHo, New Yorkers danced under disco lights and lined up at the bar.

And then there was Noah Syndergaard, a star pitcher for the Mets, who stood in a corner and spoke passionately — to anyone who would listen — about his book club.

“I got drafted out of high school in 2010, so I didn’t go to college,” he told one woman he had just met. “For me, reading is a way to continue my education,” continued Mr. Syndergaard, also known as Thor because of his…