GPP Tournament Picks: 8-13-15

The purpose of this column is to highlight some players with upside and well-suited for tournaments. While the majority of the hitter picks will likely have power upside, that's not necessarily the case for all the listed options. Other contextual factors such as batting order, ballpark, opposing pitcher, price, speed, etc also come into play, and you'll see these items sprinkled into the write-ups below. Along with that, we'll be gauging the ownership levels, giving you some plausible pivots from the popular choices in a given game slate.

Top Pitcher

A lot of people will be captivated by Stephen Strasburg in tournaments (at pitcher friendly AT&T Park in San Francisco), but I happen to think Lynn has the better floor/ceiling combination. Lynn's only real susceptibility is against left-handed hitters, and Pittsburgh doesn't offer much in that department. That leads me to believe that he can out-duel Francisco Liriano to pick up the win, despite checking in as a slim favorite. As an added bonus of upside, Lynn has one of the highest strikeout rates of any pitcher tossing today.

Top Hitters

Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez profile as the top first base options within most projection systems. However, it's not inconceivable to believe that Teixeira could outpace the field tonight. The Yankees will face Trevor Bauer, who has had homerun tendencies (especially at home) this season. With the wind blowing out to right field at 10+ mph, Teixeira could get a hold of one (or two) and get a nice boost to clear the fences.

Ramirez has been sizzling hot lately, and you'll definitely want a fair amount of exposure to this CLE-NYY matchup. Ramirez has complied 10 hits over his past four games, thriving in the leadoff role. He'll face Nathan Eovaldi, who owns a whopping .373 wOBA agaisnt left-handed hitters this season. Ramirez is a switch-hitter who is capbable of multiple hits, a stolen base, and/or the occasional homer. He probably has the highest upside of any shortstop going tonight.

Speaking of picking on Nathan Eovaldi, why not take Cleveland's best hitter at the moment? Brantley has been on fire as of late, and this is a dream matchup against a pitcher that is very generous to left-handed bats. You aren't taking Brantley due to his cheap salary or low ownership percentage, but that doesn't mean he's a bad tournament pick. Sometimes you have to go with the popular selection, then make a contrarian move elsewhere. That appears to be the case here tonight.

The debate at catcher comes down to Brian McCann (using same rationale as Mark Teixeira) or Yasmani Grandal. They are the same price on FanDuel, and I'm expecting Grandal to have a much lower ownership percentage. On DratKings, McCann is actually cheaper ($3600), which means Grandal will have an even lower ownership rate. He's facing Sampson of Cincinnati, who has been satisfactory in his first three MLB starts. However, facing one of the best offenses vs right-handed pitching on the road may be a different story.

Value and Platoon Plays

Carlos Santana (1B - CLE) FD: $3200 DK: $3800

Santana is the cheapest of the best first basemen today (A-Gonz, Pujols, Teixeira also in conversation), which is appealing, especially while building a Cleveland stack. He's a switch-hitter who will take advantage of Nathan Eovaldi's horrendous split vs left-handed hitters, yet he won't lose the platoon advantage in a bullpen situation.

David Murphy (OF - LAA) FD: $2500 DK: $2500

Realistically this could be either David Murphy or David DeJesus as a cheap LAA outfielder. It will likely come down to whoever has the best lineup position, as they are both in the best matchup of the day against Jeremy Guthrie and his .401 wOBA against left-handed hitters.

Chase Headley (3B - NYY) FD: $2800 DK: $3400

Third base isn't loaded tonight like it usually is. That builds even more rationale for Chase Headley, even if he is hitting towards the bottom half of the lineup. As mentioned earlier, the wind is blowing out in Cleveland, and opposing pitcher Trevor Bauer has fly-ball tendencies to be exploited. Definitely pick your spots with the capable Yankee bats.

Brett Gardner (OF - NYY) FD: $3000 DK: $4200

He's still overpriced on DraftKings, where he's less of a plausible option. However, Gardner and Ellsbury are extremely cheap on FanDuel due to a prolonged cold stretch. He's better than the $3000 on FanDuel suggests, just waiting for a patented breakout game. Circling back to the common theme of this article, the ball could be flying out of the park in Cleveland, so get plenty of exposure to both teams.