FORT MYERS, Fla. >> The way Royce Lewis sees it, the end of his season last year was similar to losing a game of Monopoly. You’re going along, buying property, upgrading your houses and feeling pretty good about yourself until, suddenly, you get a few unlucky rolls and you’re bankrupt.

Game over. You’ve lost, just like that.

That’s what it felt like for the third baseman, who believed things were just starting to turn his way after enduring some prolonged struggles, when the Twins’ season came to a crashing halt last September. The 2024 season was filled with plenty of adversity, but Lewis entered camp in a much better place — and just as positive as ever.

“My intention was just to get back to the roots of what I did in high school, when I was drafted,” Lewis said. “I’m feeling good, feeling loose. I’m feeling comfortable with my body. That’s what I feel.”

That’s in stark contrast to the end of last season, when it was clear he was feeling the long grind of the season.

After injuries disrupted the early parts of his career — as well as an early quadriceps injury last season — Lewis found himself playing deeper into the major league season than ever before, his 82 games his most as a major leaguer.

When he struggled at the plate — he hit .171 with one home run and eight RBIs over his last 30 games — Lewis spoke of finding a routine that worked for his body, and by the time the season came to its disappointing end, he was starting to feel good once again.

“I felt like I was just catching speed, getting hot right at the end of the season, hitting balls hard again right at guys,” Lewis said. “I felt like my luck was about to switch, and then our season was over. That’s never fun.”

Lewis, who earlier in the season proclaimed he didn’t “do that slump thing,” hit .207 with a .620 OPS in the second half of the season. September was particularly challenging.

It was a season filled with ups and downs for Lewis. He strained his quadriceps during the very first game of the season, forcing him to miss the first two months. He returned in June and got injured once more in July, straining his adductor.

Lewis was healthy for the final two months of the season, during which he was vocal about his uneasiness with the Twins’ plan to test him out, midseason, at second base, a position with which he was unfamiliar. He took some reps at second base over the course of the offseason but has been told that his primary focus will be at third.

Now, all of that is in the past as Lewis — one of the Twins’ most talented, impactful players — enters camp. Despite injuries, he hit .307 with 17 homers and 57 RBIs in his first two seasons combined and was a big reason the Twins won the American League Central in 2023.

“You zoom out a little bit and see young players go through and face adversity. Certainly at the end of the season, that’s what he felt like,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said last month. “(Manager) Rocco (Baldelli) said this the other day, ‘His face looked refreshed. He looked like he was in a different place.’”

And he feels it, too.

Lewis spent the offseason healthy, not having to worry about rehabbing as he had in years past.

He married his longtime girlfriend, Samantha, in January and enjoyed a honeymoon in Costa Rica before reporting to spring training more than a week early, ready for work.

“I feel fast, elusive, athletic, bouncy, all the things I want to feel,” he said.