Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker needed just a handful of games to showcase who he is to his new fanbase.

Hitting a home run in four straight games can have that consequence.

But there’s more knock-on effects than just what his stats will tell you. Just his presence can lead to better results for the hitters around him. Designated hitter Seiya Suzuki had two home runs on Wednesday and has looked like a potential 1-2 punch with Tucker. Ian Happ’s ability to get on base at the top of the lineup looks scarier with Tucker and Suzuki behind him. Michael Busch, Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner are all veterans with different skill sets that complement that top-of-the-order, too.

But the real effect, the Cubs hope is what those six hitters can provide to players like Matt Shaw – and even Pete Crow-Armstrong, to a certain extent – below them.

“In a perfect world, I think that those guys can give some cover to the young guys,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before Friday’s 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres. “You have to be able to break in young players in this league. You have to do it.”

Last season, the Cubs were breaking a trio of young players into their lineup: Busch, Crow-Armstrong and catcher Miguel Amaya. Crow-Armstrong and Amaya especially, though, struggled in 2024 adjusting to mostly full-time roles in the major leagues.

“This league is really hard,” Hoyer said. “It’s harder to break in as a young player than it has been a long time.”

The rest of the Cubs’ lineup wasn’t helping in that regard early in 2024. Cody Bellinger went on the injured list twice and was limited to 130 games. Swanson struggled at the plate offensively early in the year and the struggles of Amaya and Crow-Armstrong were magnified.

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“I thought last year, one of the things that we struggled with in the first half of the season was Amaya was struggling and Pete was struggling and we didn’t have the rest of the lineup sort of covering for that,” Hoyer said. “And hopefully this year, guys like Pete and Amaya, they’re further advanced, and Shaw, right now, is the only young guy in the lineup, and hopefully they can, like I said, they can give him some cover to grow, because he’ll get there. It’s gonna take some time.”

The Cubs are OK with taking learning curves with Shaw because they believe in his offensive potential. After all, in 159 minor league games, Shaw slashed .303/.384/.522 (.906 OPS) with 29 home runs, 99 RBI, 46 stolen bases and 152 weighted runs created plus, 52 percentage points above league average.

And this year they might have the cover to deal with the major-league learning curve because they’ve also seen some signs of it, like his first home run in Arizona.

“He’s going to have some tough games, that’s part of this process,” Hoyer said. “But I also think he’s going to contribute while he’s doing that. You see him run the bases. He’s made some really good defensive plays. He’s had some big hits for us. But it’s not going to be a perfectly smooth ride.

“I think he has the makeup and the work ethic and just to know how to make some adjustments along the way.”