“We always refer to them as the sleeping giant and I think they’ve awoken.”

That’s what St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak had to say about the Chicago Cubs in reference to their rising young talent and their recent acquisition of Jon Lester this past offseason. And that comment was made before he thought catcher Kyle Schwarber would be in the majors this season.

The Cubs’ first-round pick (fourth overall) in 2014 was expected to spend a few years in the minor leagues while he worked at developing his defense at the catcher position, but his bat was just too good to keep down for long. Plus, the team’s starting catcher Miguel Montero is expected to miss several weeks with a sprained thumb.

In just his 11th major league game, he put on a show. Playing in front of over 30,000 people in Cincinnati, 30 minutes from where he grew up, he launched a 424-foot two-run homer that tied the score at 4-4 in the ninth against the Cincinnati Reds.

That would have been enough, but he wasn’t finished. He gave an encore performance, blasting another home run, this time a solo shot, into the right field bleachers to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead they would hold on to.

Schwarber is just the latest prospect to impress with the Cubs. Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Addison Russell are just a few of the other names that have become part of the daily lexicon in living rooms around Chicago. This is the core that is supposed to bring the Cubs to new heights.

Aside from Schwarber, the youngsters have been up and down this season. Of course, Schwarber will inevitably face a slump, but that’s not the point. On Tuesday night he picked up the rest of the team when they couldn’t produce. That’s at the heart of why this Cubs team is so dangerous going forward: some young players can slump, but the chance of all of them slumping at the same time is very low.

With so much depth, it’s going to be hard to keep the Cubs down for long. This might not be their season, but it appears their season is coming very soon. As Mozeliak said, this team has awoken. Now it’s time they make some noise.