Mike Trout, widely regarded as the best player in baseball, was in New York two weeks ago to take on the Mets with the rest of his Los Angeles Angels teammates. Just after that series began, Lucas Duda, the Mets’ sometimes enigmatic first baseman, broke out of a slump and became the team’s most prolific hitter.

That does not appear to be a coincidence.

For it was around that time that Kevin Long, the Mets’ hitting coach, came across video of Trout’s swing. Long had always admired Trout’s accomplishments — he has, after all, finished either first or second in the American League’s most valuable player voting since 2012 — but now there was something about Trout’s approach at the plate that caught Long’s eye.

“I’m watching him,” Long said, “and I say to myself: ‘This guy is getting beat every swing. Every swing it looks like the ball is on top of him.’ And I’ve got Lucas Duda, where every swing he’s out in front.”

Then an idea struck Long. Like Trout, Duda is strong and sturdy — he is listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 255 pounds — and has a leg kick in his swing. So Long cued up footage of the previous 60 at-bats by both Duda, a left-handed hitter, and Trout, who is right-handed, and tried to answer one question:

“Was the swing tight and compact, or was it loose and out in front?” Long said.

Based on the footage, Long found that Duda’s swing was “loose and out in front” 41 times in those 60 at-bats, compared with just six loose swings by Trout.