PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- In A.J. Minter’s estimation, the left-hander remains slightly ahead of schedule in his bid to be ready for Opening Day … which isn’t the same thing as saying he’ll definitely be there.

At this point in Minter’s progression back from left hip surgery, he isn’t entirely sure. But Sunday marked a notable step in the right direction, as Minter faced hitters for the first time since his August operation.

“We’re going to be smart about this,” Minter said. “If I have to miss a few days or a couple weeks, my goal is to help this team at the end of the season. … They’re the boss, and they’re going to make that ultimate decision, and I’m going to stand by it. But the competitor in me, I hate missing games. I hate being on the IL.”

Entering camp, Minter was a question mark for the Mets’ March 27 opener, mostly because the 31-year-old wasn’t sure how his body would respond once he began pitching again. Mets trainers continue to “hold the reins on me,” Minter said, limiting his workload in hopes of keeping him as healthy as possible.

They finally loosened those reins a bit on Sunday, allowing Minter to throw around 20-25 pitches to a group of hitters including Pete Alonso, Starling Marte, Drew Gilbert and Joey Meneses. The outing featured more hard contact and fewer swings-and-misses than Minter would have liked, but he came away from it feeling healthy and confident. His final pitch sawed off Marte, cracking the outfielder’s bat.

“Physically, it felt good,” Minter said. “That’s all I can really ask for.”

Minter expects to throw at least one more live batting practice session before debuting in Grapefruit League games. With three and a half weeks until Opening Day, that leaves plenty of time for him to be ready, but also relatively little margin for error. The Mets’ bullpen decisions will hinge in large part upon the health of Minter and right-hander Dedniel Núñez, another high-leverage relief arm who has not pitched since last year. Both are questionable for March 27.

“I’m horrible at saying no,” Minter said. “I’m a competitor. I want to get ready. But as I get older, as I’m a little bit wiser … learning from the past, you have to get your work in. You can’t just rush in.”

A longtime stalwart of the Braves’ bullpen, Minter admitted to some “weirdness” reporting to his new club for the first time, which has dissipated over the first few weeks of camp.

“We were rivals on the Braves and the Mets,” Minter said. “Your whole career, you want to do good against the Mets, you want to pitch good against them, because that’s a team that we know it’s going to come down to the end. And now coming into Spring Training -- it took a little bit, a few days -- but now it feels like family here.”