Pete Crow-Armstrong knows what he brings to the table.

But sometimes, it’s easy for young players spending their first days in the big leagues to get outside of themselves and try to do too much.

Craig Counsell and the Cubs tried to ensure that would not happen with Crow-Armstrong and other rookies.

Crow-Armstrong began the season in Triple-A and then was called up to the big leagues when Cody Bellinger went on the IL with a rib injury in late-April.

[READ: Seiya Suzuki had the strangest inning in Cubs’ win over Reds]

After Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki returned from injury, Crow-Armstrong’s playing time started to diminsh and the Cubs opted to send him back down to the minors for everyday at-bats.

He absolutely raked at the plate in Triple-A (1.248 OPS) and after 10 days, the Cubs – in search of a spark – called him back up this week in Milwaukee. Since then, he has been starting regularly in center, including Saturday’s 7-5 win over the Reds.

And Counsell’s message to Crow-Armstrong was simple: Be you.

“In every conversation, whatever it’s about with Counsell or with a lot of the other coaches or any of my teammates,” Crow-Armstrong said, “it always ends in: ‘Be you. Get better.'”

And what Crow-Armstrong does well is play elite defense in center field and prevent runs for the Cubs pitching staff.

“I know what I offer and I know what my skillset’s been for a good majority of my playing career – amateur and pro,” he said. “I think just hearing it, it’s like a reiteration of what I already knew I would have to do.

“It’s just nice to hear it in words and hear it from the guy that leads the ship. There’s not much to it. It’s a lot of encouragement to be myself and do what I do well.”

Crow-Armstrong said he’s known since he was 9 years old that he can track down just about any ball in the outfield. And while offense can come and go – especially as he adjusts to MLB pitching – he can always hang his hat on his defensive value.

So when he came back to Chicago after a brief stint in the minors, he already knew his role:

“I need to go catch balls and save runs,” Crow-Armstrong said.

It’s important for young players to hear that type of message from Counsell and the Cubs coaching staff. It can help take pressure off and might lead to rookies feeling more comfortable at the big-league level sooner.

“That’s a huge thing,” Counsell said. “I think it’s an intimidating place. … And it’s uncomfortable. I’ve talked about that with players – walking into a big-league clubhouse for the first time, it’s intimidating, right?

“And so the feeling and the sense that you get from your teammtes that you can just be yourself I think is really important. And it puts guys in the best place to succeed in a hard job.”

The “be you” message translates to all young players.

Ben Brown is a young rookie in his first MLB season and has been succeeding with mostly a two-pitch mix of a fastball and curveball.

Shota Imanaga is a bit older than Brown but is also in his first MLB season after coming over from Japan and has found success in a similar way – with a fastball and splitter.

Both have been keys to the Cubs’ season and it’s because they’re keeping it simple and playing to their strengths.

“You got to do what you’re good at,” Counsell said. “You got to execute what you’re good at and Shota has proven himself that when he executes what he’s good at it works. And that’s really important.”

Counsell takes the same approach to himself as a manager.

He knows that some leaders around baseball excel by being emotional and using their emotions to their advantage with passionate messaging and coaching.

Counsell isn’t like that – he is very even-keeled and has said several times already this year that it is not in his nature to go into his office or the clubhouse after a frustrating game and throw chairs or deliver a tirade to his team.

“You got to be yourself,” he said. “And I think that’s the first thing you learn because jobs like this expose that if you’re not yourself.

“So I think being yourself is really important – be who you are. That’ll get you to probably the best place you can be.”

Counsell also feels like the entire Cubs roster can benefit from that mantra – not just the rookies.

The Cubs lineup underperformed in May after producing runs at a stellar clip for most of April.

Counsell’s coaching staff and Jed Hoyer’s front office know that the offense is probably somewhere between the peaks of April and the valleys of May.

“All we’re asking for everybody is kind of be who you are,” Counsell said. “And that’s why we’re so confident in this offense is because just the version of being themselves, this is a good offense. And this is an offense that will score runs.”

The Cubs have been enduring a tough stretch over the past couple of weeks and through it all, Counsell has maintained his stance that the team simply has to keep going.

And that they need to create their own breaks when the breaks are not going their way.

And how do they do that? (You probably see where this is going by now…)

“You go out and just play your game,” Counsell said. “That’s what you have to do. You have to be yourself. And you have to stress that and that keeps you out of the ‘try too hard’ mentality and the ‘be something I’m not’ mentality.”