PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Even though he is moving toward the start of the 2017 season, Mets outfielder Jay Bruce wanted a concrete answer as to why he struggled last August. At the time, he was having what he thought was the most consistent season of his career and he had just been acquired by the Mets, who hoped he could help their injured and struggling lineup.

And yet he hit just .183 that month and was even given time off to clear his head.

Bruce bounced back in September, smashing key hits over the final two weeks that helped the Mets reach the National League wild-card game. In a sense, one good month had canceled out the one bad one and put Bruce in position to start fresh this season.

In spring training, however, Bruce found he couldn’t get last August out of his head. So last week he asked T. J. Barra, the Mets’ director of baseball research and development, to examine the advanced metrics behind his feeble showing that month.

“I wanted to say, ‘What was the biggest difference?’ because I didn’t feel that much different from the other months,” Bruce, 29, said. “But it was 180 degrees different.”