DENVER -- Dansby Swanson saw something different within Pete Crow-Armstrong’s three-hit performance in the Cubs’ final game in Kansas City in late July. The veteran shortstop described it as a “controlled, intentional process” that harnessed the energy and fire the rookie has consistently displayed.

After the team traveled to Cincinnati for the next series, Swanson fired off a text to the young center fielder.

“I was just like, ‘Whatever side of the bed you woke up on today,’” Swanson recalled with a chuckle, ‘’bro, whatever that was, we need that every day. We need that.’”

Over the past six weeks, Crow-Armstrong has lived up to that request, showing the kind of all-around skill-set the Cubs dreamed of when they traded for him three years ago. While Chicago was dealt a morale-damaging 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Rockies on Saturday night at Coors Field, Crow-Armstrong continued to show off his progress.

A little over one year ago, Crow-Armstrong made his MLB debut for the Cubs at Coors Field on Sept. 11 last season. When he went in as a pinch-runner for his first big league moment, he was listed as “Unknown PR” on the scoreboard. On Saturday, Crow-Armstrong launched a home run (his ninth of the year) and stole a base (his 27th this season), much to the delight of the Cubs' fans who packed the stadium.

“The biggest thing is Pete knows that he's supposed to be here,” Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said. “He's a really good Major League player. I think last year, when he came up -- and even at the beginning of the year -- he was still trying to figure that part out. ‘Do I belong here? Can I put up numbers here? Can I play every single day?’

“What you’re seeing now is he knows he belongs here, and everyone else knows that he belongs here.”

Beginning with the game Swanson pointed to in Kansas City on July 28, Crow-Armstrong has turned in a .308/.357/.510 slash line in his last 42 games. In that span, the 22-year-old center fielder has compiled six home runs, seven doubles, two triples, 27 RBIs, 27 runs scored and nine stolen bases.

Before that stretch, Crow-Armstrong had a .183/.233/.306 slash through his first 67 games this season, while Chicago gave him runway to gain experience amid the struggles through consistent at-bats and playing time. It was mentally challenging for the rookie, whose initial taste of the big leagues featured an 0-for-14 showing last September.

Asked how much the game has slowed down for him since his debut, Crow-Armstrong replied: “A lot. A lot.”

What does he think is the driving factor behind that?

“It was just kind of like an ultimatum,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I was tired of letting the bad affect my chances at being good. I lost sight a little bit of the fact that the process really works, when it didn’t feel like it was working.”

Cubs manager Craig Counsell believes that Crow-Armstrong’s zeroing in on a consistent daily routine has played an integral part in the young outfielder’s progress.

“You're going to make mistakes, you're going to have bad stretches, you're going to have bad games, there's going to be self doubt,” Counsell said. “Consistency of a routine gives you something that you control every day and that you succeed at every day, too, when you're going through bad times. And that's important.”

Crow-Armstrong agreed, but the “self doubt” component that Counsell mentioned was also something the rookie said he really had to work on, too.

“I definitely think that you need routine for stability and kind of a road map,” Crow-Armstrong said. “But you also need to realize that the routine and all this stuff doesn’t matter if you don’t have any sort of self belief and confidence going up into the box.”

To work on that, the outfielder has leaned on something Counsell told him in Spring Training in an effort not to let a bad play or at-bat stick in his mind.

“It’s been a regular, active, everyday thought,” Crow-Armstrong said. “[Counsell] told me just to show him that he can trust me to make the next play. To me, that's understandable, easy to digest, because it gives me a very singular and specific objective. And I think that it takes away from the kind of thoughts, feelings, emotions that aren't so productive in the present.”

After Saturday’s loss -- one that kept the Cubs six games behind the Mets and Braves in the race for the National League’s third Wild Card spot -- Crow-Armstrong took that same mentality as it relates to the team as a whole.

“We can’t let this game define the last two weeks,” he said. “And it won’t.”