White Sox left hander Jose Quintana will pitch for Colombia in the World Baseball Classic. The classic beings March 6.

Chicago White Sox left hander Jose Quintana will pitch for Colombia in the World Baseball Classic. The classic begins in March and Colombia opens March 10 against the United States. Quintana is coming off his best season where he was 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA. That should be an interesting matchup since most of Team USA will be familiar with him.

This is a big deal for Colombia because they will be making their WBC debut. The WBC will take place in Tokyo, Japan Seoul,South Korea Miami, Fla. and Guadalajara, Mexico. The second round will be played in Tokyo and San Diego while the championship will be in Los Angeles. Play will open on March 6 and the championship will be on March 22.

The tournament will consist of 16 teams from five continents. 12 teams qualified based off their placement in the 2013 tournament and the remaining four qualified at other tournaments. The Dominican Republic is looking to defend the title.

The World Baseball Classic will definitely be fun to watch. We should have some insight into some international talent we don’t usually get to see. Guys like Yu Darvish played in the WBC prior to making his debut in the major leagues. While it’s fun for fans to watch, it’s also sort of a scouting gold mine. Scouts are able to see how guys they don’t normally get to see perform against top competition.

It’ll be fun to watch some great international competition this March. I’m actually looking forward to the World Baseball Classic. It’ll be a nice break from spring training and will get us ready for the 2017 season.