This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Francisco Lindor’s routine is a mirror. When he comes to the field for batting practice before games, Lindor takes a round from the left side of the plate and then a round from the right. If he works on something in the cage, he makes sure to do so from both batter’s boxes.

In that fashion, Lindor has spent years as one of the most consistent switch-hitters in the sport -- a player without obvious platoon splits. From 2015-22, Lindor posted these numbers:

As a right-handed hitter: .290/.353/.474

As a left-handed hitter: .271/.337/.474

But that simply hasn’t been the case in 2023. These were Lindor’s splits entering Monday’s play:

As a right-handed hitter: .250/.299/.613

As a left-handed hitter: .197/.292/.340

Although Lindor has struggled -- at least relative to his career norms -- to put the ball in play from the right side, his power numbers there are stronger than ever. The opposite is true for him as a lefty swinger. For a player who prides himself on being consistent from both sides of the plate, Lindor has become an enigma.

“I mean, join the club with the rest of the weird stuff going on this year,” hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said.

Much like Lindor, Barnes struggled to explain the discrepancy between the shortstop’s right-handed and left-handed swings. It could be partially the product of luck. It could be because platoon splits inherently involve small sample sizes. Or it could be a mechanical flaw that neither man has been able to pinpoint.

What’s obvious is that something is amiss. Unlike many other switch-hitters around the league -- teammate Eduardo Escobar, for example, or Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies -- Lindor has always demonstrated an ability to hit consistently from both sides of the plate. Last year, his left-handed OPS was within five points of his right-handed mark. Two years ago, there was a 28-point difference. The year before that brought a nine-point difference.

This year, the discrepancy is more than 250 points. Lindor’s unique skill set has seemed to disappear overnight, and no one around the Mets has much of an idea why.

“My routine hasn’t changed since I was in the Minor Leagues,” Lindor said. “If I take 100 [swings] from one side, I take 100 from the other side. If I fix something on one side, I fix something on the other side. When I’m lost on one side, I go on the other side and try to find it. I have two swings. … I try to learn from each other to stay in that moment a little longer, to stay in that good ride a little longer. This year, I haven’t been able to stay in that ride long enough. I’ve been fighting uphill.”

Perhaps a change is coming. The shortstop hit a three-run homer from the left side of the plate in Monday’s win over the Astros, then added a two-run double later in the game.

 “I got a couple hits from the left side,” he said afterward, conscious of what that feat might portend. “It’s a good night for me.”