In only his second career big league start, Chicago Cubs’ rookie RHP Kyle Hendricks pitched seven shutout innings, allowing five hits and three walks. Hendricks struck out five, and picked up the victory in the Cubs’ 6-0 win over the San Diego Padres.

While he never been a highly ranked pitching prospect, Hendricks is showing that he belongs in the major leagues. Hendricks has a fastball that sits in the low 90s, above average breaking pitches and a very good change-up. His stuff is good, but far from elite. Hendricks relies on his incredible control and command to get batters out.

After trading Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Oakland Athletics, the Cubs have some spots to fill in the rotation. Hendricks appears to have a strong hold on one of those spots, as the Cubs will try to see what they have in the 24-year-old right-hander.

Offensively, the Cubs got to Padres’ starter Eric Stultz right away. Emilio Bonifacio (who was playing in his first MLB game since going down with a rib cage injury on June 12th) led off the bottom of the first inning with a double. He scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Justin Ruggiano to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

Anthony Rizzo led off the bottom of the third inning for the Cubs with a long homerun to right field, his 24th of the season. Ruggiano added an RBI single in the fifth inning to make it 3-0.

The Cubs busted the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bonifacio led off the inning with a groundout, but that was immediately followed up with a monster homerun by rookie Arismendy Alcantara, his second homerun in the big leagues.

Alcantara is now hitting .289/.333/.605 in his nine games at the major league level. He has an incredible combination of power and speed, and is proving that he clearly belongs at the major league level. Alcantara has a ton of raw ability, and a good approach at the plate. This guy has a very bright future ahead of him.

Rizzo followed Alcantara’s shot up with another homerun of his own, his second of the game, and a National League leading 25th on the season. Rizzo has really grown as a player this season. He is destroying everything thrown his way, and is an obvious cornerstone for this Cubs franchise.

Between Hendricks, Alcantara and Rizzo, the Cubs’ future was on full display this evening. While they still need time to grow together, the Cubs are loaded with young talent throughout the system. As more of them rise to the majors, the team will obviously become more competitive.

Tonight, was simply a small sample of what is to come on the North Side.

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About the author
Dan Schmelzer
Dan is a 25-year-old writer who specializes in Chicago Cubs content. Dan also writes about the Iowa Hawkeyes, Fantasy Football, and covers the NFL.