World Baseball Classic 2017: Can two star pitchers make Colombia a surprise team?

From now until the World Baseball Classic begins on March 6, we’ll be helping you get to know each team involved in baseball’s global tournament. Today’s team: Colombia.

Colombia has this going for it as it enters World Baseball Classic play for the first time: It’s young and hungry. But then there’s this: Colombia has to claw its way through the very-tough Pool C where the United States and Dominican Republic are waiting.

So will Colombia sink or swim? It makes for a good storyline.

Colombia qualified for the WBC for the first time this year, which is a great story in itself since the country didn’t even try in 2013. Colombia then got a boost as it headed to the big tournament when Jose Quintana of the Chicago White Sox and Julio Teheran of the Atlanta Braves — the top two Colombian players in the MLB today — agreed to play in the tournament.

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So now we’ll see how far two top-flight pitchers can take Colombia on its maiden WBC voyage.

Schedule details: Colombia is in the mighty Pool C and it opens WBC play in Miami on March 10 against Team USA. Then it faces Canada on March 11 before playing the other titan of Pool C, the Dominican Republic, on March 12.

‘13 finish: N/A.

Biggest stars: There’s no doubt here, it’s that 1-2 punch in their rotation — Teheran and Quintana. They were both All-Stars last season and they’re as good of a duo as any team in the tournament. They’re both sought-after big-league pitchers, as proven by the fact that they’ve been mentioned in trade rumors the past year.

Notable absence: As of Thursday, it’s Dilson Herrera, the young Cincinnati Reds infielder who has bowed out of the tournament. Herrera, a 22-year-old who can play all over the infield, was poised to be one of Colombia’s best position players. MLB fans may recognize his name because he was traded from the Mets to the Reds in the Jay Bruce deal last summer. For a Colombian lineup lacking major-league pop, losing Herrera was a big blow.

Player you should get familiar with: Jorge Alfaro, who is the No. 4 prospect in the Phillies system, has a chance to shine in the WBC. The 23-year-old catcher is one of a few minor leaguers in the Colombian lineup and now that Herrera isn’t playing, Alfaro’s contributions will be even more important. Alfaro hit .285 in Triple-A last season with 15 homers and 67 RBIs in 97 games. He got called up for six games and only hit .125 against big-league pitching.

Do they have a chance to win? It’s a great story if these first-timers come out and upend either Team USA or the Dominican Republic, so you want to believe. But then reality sinks in. The lineup is lacking and if one of Pool C’s tough teams can knock around either Teheran or Quintana, things get real rough real quick for Colombia.

THREE BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT COLOMBIA

How good can Quintana and Teheran be? Like we said earlier, they’re as good as any two starters in the tournament. But they’re not infallible either. Both have proven themselves to be very good pitchers when they’re on, but there’s a reason Teheran’s ERA fluctuates so much (2.89 in 2014, 4.04 in 2015 and 3.21 in 2016) and a reason Quintana is a .500 pitcher in his career. Both can be beaten.

OK, but how should they be used? What will be interesting to see is how they’re used in pool play. Quintana has already been confirmed as Colombia’s Game 1 starter against the U.S. Could Colombia hold out Teheran for Game 3 against the powerful Dominican team and hope that another of his pitchers can beat Canada? The Canadians aren’t nearly as stacked. It might be worth considering.

Where’s the offense going to come from? You look at Colombia’s lineup and it’s a pretty obvious question. There’s talent there — plenty of guys in MLB minor-league systems, like Donovan Solano of the Yankees and Giovanny Orshela of the Indians — but no big proven bat from the MLB ranks. That just means that if Colombia is going to be successful in the tournament, these young guys are going to have to step up. If they’re hungry enough, it’s not entirely out of the question.

Also in this series:
— Australia
— Canada
— China
— Chinese Taipei
— Cuba
— Dominican Republic
— Israel
— Italy
— Japan
— Korea
— Mexico
— Netherlands
— Puerto Rico
— United States
— Venezuela

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz