JUPITER, Fla — Juan Lagares is feeling the best he has at the plate all spring. Brandon Nimmo has slowed down after a blistering start.

That’s where the two guys vying to keep the center-field spot warm until Michael Conforto returns stand as the Mets enter the final leg of spring training.

Lagares, the righty-hitting defensive whiz, worked on a new lift approach in his swing. The result had him thinking, not doing.

“I’ve been thinking too much out there. When for years you do something and you try to change, it can be really hard. But I feel 100 percent [physically] and ready to go,” Lagares said.

“He’s still thinking internally about mechanics which makes it tough,” manager Mickey Callaway said several times in recent days.

Nimmo, the lefty hitter in the alignment, was blistering the ball but the last week, went from torrid to near arctic. Still, there were good things. Like in Tuesday’s 8-7 victory over the Cardinals here, Nimmo singled in the Mets’ first run. That’s what he took away, rather than three strikeouts.

“Take the positives,” said Nimmo, hitting .283.

And so the Mets’ 2011 first-round pick has examined his spring as a whole.

“It went really well the first three weeks,” said Nimmo, who started in right Tuesday with Lagares in center. “I was really comfortable, felt really good. Baseball is baseball and you go through slumps. But I would rather it happen now. … I felt amazing for about three weeks. Things were really simple. I was finding the barrel a lot.”

Callaway has focused on big picture as well with Nimmo.

“He’s done a great job. Obviously, he got off to a hot start with the bat. He’s played a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a little tired,” Callaway said. “We’ll monitor playing time the rest of the way to make sure he gets his legs back under him. But he’s shown us everything he needs to show us.”

Lagares has shown the impeccable defense — and that maybe he is better adapting to the new approach. That adapting, and competing for a job, can weigh heavily.

“I’m working. It’s not going the way I want but I feel good because I’m healthy, 100 percent,” said Lagares, who had two hits Tuesday to nudge his spring average to .205. “Everything isn’t going the way I want, but the season hasn’t started yet.

“I try to just let it happen naturally. I’ve been feeling really good the last couple games and I want to continue feeling like that.”

And the new swing?

“Sometimes I feel good, sometimes I feel a little off,” said Lagares.

So everyone awaits the return from shoulder surgery by Conforto, who played four innings in center and went 1-for-5 with a walk and RBI single in minor league games at Port St. Lucie Tuesday.

“You think about it but the things you can’t control, you just go out there and let it happen,” Lagares said of the competition.

“It can [affect you] if you pay attention to it. I try to not. I try to just focus on what I can do. I’m really big on controlling what you can control,” Nimmo said. “It’s not like Lego and I dislike each other. We get along really well. We help each other out when we can.”