The Double-A Southern League All-Star game was played today and six Smokies played in the game.

Pitcher Kyle Hendricks, acquired with Christian Villanueva in the Ryan Dempster deal last summer, started the game for the North Division.  (By the way, that looks like a pretty good deal now, right?)  Hendricks (8-3, 2.13 ERA) allowed two earned runs on three hits in his inning of work.

Pitcher Alberto Cabrera pitched the third frame, allowing no base runners and striking out one.  Outfielder Matt Szczur led off for the North Division and went 0-for-2 before being pulled, and second baseman Arismendy Alcantara hit right behind him.

Alcantara played short in the game, his position with the Smokies before the promotion of Javier Baez.  He went 0-for-2.  He did play in the Futures game Sunday, though, and went 1-for-3 with a homer.

Third baseman Christian Villanueva started the game and went 0-for-3 in three plate appearances, batting in the six spot in the order.

Finally, catcher Rafael Lopez came off the bench in the bottom of the sixth inning as a defensive replacement.

The game is currently live, and the South Division leads the North 3-0 (sounds like another recent All-Star game…) in the bottom of the seventh inning.  The North has just one hit.

Regardless, imagine how exciting it would be to watch six Cubs get into the All-Star game.  And have four of them start the game.  Comparatively the Cubs had just one selected this year, and he didn’t even play.

Now, think about how Szczur, Alcantara, Hendricks, Villanueva and Cabrera are all relatively highly ranked prospects in the Cubs organization.  Yeah, time to start getting excited.  Go Cubs!