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JUPITER, Fla. — The question posed pertained to last season, but Masyn Winn didn’t beat around the bush. The Cardinals shortstop took that opening and ran straight to his struggles at the plate this spring training with his answer.

That’s where the conversation was ultimately going to end up anyway. He just headed that off at the pass.

Winn, a dynamic soon-to-be 23-year-old (birthday is March 21), looks like a potential franchise cornerstone after he finished his rookie season as the club’s primary leadoff hitter as well as a National League Gold Glove finalist at shortstop in 2024.

Last year’s success didn’t make him any less aware of the 0-for-18 streak he’d put together this spring before his bouncer up the middle squeaked through for a single in his final at-bat Tuesday afternoon.

Upon reaching first base, he put his hands to the sky as if to exclaim: “Finally!� That sort of relief stemming from a seeing-eye single by a guy who is one of your offensive catalysts could be cause for alarm.

However, we’ve seen this movie before. Winn bounced back in a big way from a slow start last spring. Most importantly, Winn now knows he’s got a North Star to follow to get on the correct course.

No, Winn wasn’t slow-walking into a conversation about last year’s adjustments compared to this year’s performance at the plate. He jumped right in and drew the comparison right out of the gate.

“What was happening last year, honestly, is probably what’s happening right now,� Winn said Wednesday morning in the clubhouse of the Cardinals spring training facility. “I’m trying to get too swing happy. I’m trying to pull homers rather than going the other way.

“That’s kind of what we just focused on today in the cages and what we did yesterday as well, getting my direction back going the opposite way. That will open up the pull side for me. So, I think, once I locked in on going to right field, that’s really what opened up the full field for me.�

Last spring training, Winn went into a season as the starting shortstop in the big leagues for the first time. He responded with a 3-for-3 start in his first appearance of Grapefruit League play last spring. Then, he followed that up with a 4-for-35 stretch.

This same time last spring, Winn clearly described the swing adjustment he was working through. At the time, he compared it to having two-strike approach “off the rip.� In batting practice, he roped line drives the opposite way into right field with a short, simple swing.

The problem was that work didn’t translate into spring training games, as evident by that 4-for-35 stretch and the fact Winn hit at a .227 clip as he entered the regular season.

Then, the regular season started, and that opposite-field approach and the line-drive lasers he’d been shooting around the practice fields and in batting practice showed up in big league games. He batted .300 in April, then .309 in May.

That simple, short swing all of a sudden looked natural and ingrained. Winn batted leadoff in 102 games last season, the most in MLB among rookies and the fourth-most ever by a Cardinals rookie.

This spring, when an extended hitless streak “humbled� Winn, he became very receptive to the advice of assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen and hitting coach Brant Brown.

Their advice? Get back to the approach that served him well last season.

“Whenever I’m at my best is when I am going to right field,� Winn said. “I got too confident in myself coming into this year, trying to pull homers. Obviously, I want to hit homers, but that’s not my entire game. I’m best when I’m going to right field. So I think it’s not the fact that I’m trusting the work to get there, it’s knowing that it will work.�

Winn’s batting average slipped late last season — he batted .247 after the All-Star break and .196 in September — but he finished the season batting .267 with 15 home runs (including 10 at big bad Busch Stadium).

Ten of his home runs came after the All-Star break. A chunk of his home runs came because opposing teams were so cautious of Winn lining hits the other way that they challenged him on the inner half more. That’s when he ran into some home runs.

Winn came into spring training aiming for more homers. Perhaps he was riding that wave of power from the second half of last season. Whatever the reason, he has now seen the folly of his ways.

He already knows the road map to get back to being one of the toughest outs in the Cardinals lineup. Remember that his 80 hits with two strikes were the second-most in the majors last season, and he struck out at a rate lower than 75% of all hitters in the majors.

It all starts with line drives to right field.

“I haven’t been working on it this spring,� Winn said. “We started working on it the last couple days. My at-bats have been a little bit better. I know once I lock in on that instead of getting the homer mindset — I’m not (Nolan Arenado), I’m not Willy (Contreras) — I’ve got to get that through my head.

“I’ve got to play my game. That’s going to right field. I always get humbled. An 0-for-18 streak, you know, I’m trying to pull balls over the fence, and it’s not working. So back to the basics. Back to going to right field, taking my singles, taking my knocks. Getting on base. I think that will work out.�

The best news for Winn and Cardinals fans is that he came to that conclusion with three weeks remaining before the games count.