Chicago Cubs' rookies young and not so restlesss

The kids have come in waves this season for the Cubs.

First it was Kris Bryant on April 17, as he arrived from Class AAA Iowa and created an immediate sensation.

A few days later it was Addison Russell.

In the middle of June, Kyle Schwarber came up from Class AA Tennessee, but for only a few days. He came back in the middle of July, and he's here to stay.

Since Schwarber has been up and hitting the baseball very hard, he has taken some of the hot lights off Bryant and Russell, and manager Joe Maddon says that might be a good thing.

“I think Schwarber's deflected a little bit for a lot of these guys,” Maddon said. “And he's handled it really well, Schwarbs has. It's a good thing.

“I think it's getting spread out a little more evenly right now, because Addison's doing a lot better himself. KB's rebounding a bit right now. (Jorge) Soler looks good right now, driving in runs. So I think the glory has been spread out a little more evenly right now.”

Bryant, Russell, Schwarber and Soler are getting in on the ground floor of something that could end up being special for the Cubs.

“To play this well at this particular junction of their careers, I would like to believe is going to be very helpful in the years to come,” Maddon said. “You see a lot of teams that have grown their own players and then they get up there together (and) there's a lot of history regarding the success of those groups.

“The big thing is to keep them healthy. I really trust the people themselves. These are really good guys. I know they're going to try to do the right thing and try to get better. And to do that as a group is a really interesting concept.”

No deer in the headlights:

When you watch the Cubs kids, one thing becomes apparent: None looks wide-eyed or intimidated, either by the big stage of the major leagues or dealing with big-city media.

“They're not, I agree,” Maddon said. “I think what contributes to that is they're not afraid of making mistakes. I never want them to be concerned about making a mistake out there, and we have (made mistakes) a lot this year. But when we do, we talk about it. The coaches take them out for their work on it. Eventually the mistakes go away.

“We're not going to be perfect every day. I don't expect us to be. I expect us to try to be, but we're not going to be. So I like the fact that we made some mistakes and we played through it, not that I'm happy we made mistakes, but the fact we were able to rebound from them, these are all positive signs.”

The eyes have it:

Maddon seems to be pretty good at sizing up people. So how does he size up Schwarber? Maybe he looks into his eyes.

“It's not fake,” Maddon said. “It's not like this guy's attempting to appear to be a tough guy or acting tough or whatever. He actually is.

“I got to know him during spring training, conversationally, and he's got those really deep-set eyes, and he kind of just glares right through you.

“When you're talking to him, I just know one thing: He's listening to everything you're saying, absolutely. And then he's going to formulate his opinion coming back. And I like that. I like that a lot. There's nothing false, phony or fake about him. He's real.”

Right on time?

Last week in this space, we discussed the notion of the young Cubs team being one year “ahead of schedule.”

In other words, most observers figured the Cubs to be vastly improved this year but not to the point of holding the second wild-card spot and being close to the first in mid-August.

“I don't think it's quite that simple,” general manager Jed Hoyer said. “I do feel this year was always a land of uncertainty, if you will. You don't know what to expect when you have effectively four rookies that are playing every day. You don't know how well these guys are going to come around.

“It doesn't surprise me what these guys are doing. But I think us expecting them to do it would have been probably a little unfair.

“I don't believe in the 'year too early.' It's great that we're playing good baseball right now, we're in this position. But expecting these guys to produce at this level, at this age, would have been probably unfair to them.”

Is it unfair to expect it now?

“Well, they're doing it,” Hoyer said. “They're doing it every day, so I don't think it's unfair to have expectations. I think it's probably unfair if we forget how old they are and don't have some level of understanding.

“Going back to spring training, Joe was saying it's not always going to be an oil painting. We'll probably have some of those nights along the way, but at this point they're doing it and hopefully they'll keep doing it.”

Cubs scouting report

Cubs vs. Detroit Tigers at Wrigley Field

TV: ABC 7 today; WPWR Wednesday

Radio: WBBM 780-AM

Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Jason Hammel (6-5) vs. Anibal Sanchez (10-10) today; Jon Lester (8-8) vs. Daniel Norris (2-2) Wednesday. Both games 7:05 p.m.

At a glance: The teams split a pair in Detroit in June, with the Tigers winning 6-0 and the Cubs coming back to win 12-3. The Tigers have fallen to 56-61, but they did get Miguel Cabrera back off the DL this past weekend after he had been out six weeks with a calf injury. Cabrera drove in his 1,426th run over the weekend, making him the all-time leader in RBI among Venezuelan-born players. Cabrera's line is .352/.461/.585 with 16 homers and 57 RBI. J.D. Martinez has a line of .286/.348/.379 with 30 homers and 76 RBI. Detroit pitchers ranked 13th in the American League in ERA (4.47) entering Monday. Tigers batters were first in average (.271) and second in on-base percentage (.328). The Cubs are in the midst of a stretch of 19 straight days in Chicago.

Next: Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field, Thursday-Sunday

— Bruce Miles