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.

Tournament Pitchers

Blake Snell - SP - Tampa Bay Rays

DK: $11,300, FD: $11,800

Toronto has the lowest implied total on the board tonight, sitting at 2.9 runs. Tampa Bay are -235 favorites with Blake Snell on the mound. He is expensive, and will come with ownership, but he presents the highest ceiling among SPs tonight. He has a whopping 36.4% strikeout rate this season, and hitters have under a 60% contact rate. This Toronto lineup has six bats with over a 30% strikeout rate against left-handed pitching this season. Overall they just have a .318 wOBA and .124 ISO against southpaws. Snell is playable in all formats.

Walker Buehler - SP - Los Angeles Dodgers

DK: $9,600, FD: $11,000

Noah Syndergaard takes on Walker Buehler tonight in another strong pitching matchup out in Los Angeles. However, Buehler is the name I am looking at. He is a -178 home favorite, and the Mets have an implied total of 3.2 runs. Buehler has some strikeout upside in this spot, as the Mets projected lineup has a 23.2% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching this season. Buehler's overall strikeout rate is at 23.5%. He is holding both sides of the plate to under a .300 wOBA. His DK price is pretty friendly, and even on FanDuel I would use him in a few lineups.

Top GPP Hitters

Javier Baez - SS - Chicago Cubs

DK: $4,700, FD: $4,100

Javier Baez is a stud shortstop option who might be overlooked with Trevor Story in Coors against a lefty as well. These are the two SS I am paying up for tonight. Javier Baez has a .563 ISO and .573 wOBA against left-handed pitching this season. His hard-contact rate is over 60%, and he has a 7.30 xwOBA. Baez carries a high price tag, but his upside is one of the tops on the slate.

Freddie Freeman - 1B - Atlanta Braves

DK: $5,200, FD: $4,200

The Braves are in a good spot against Anibal Sanchez, who has allowed a .420 wOBA and .324 ISO to left-handed hitters. There are a couple of strong first base options going tonight, and Freeman is one of them. He has a 52% hard-contact rate against right-handers this season, and has a .415 wOBA and .252 ISO. Freeman's recent stretch looks much better from a fantasy production standpoint.

Andrew McCutchen - OF - Philadelphia Phillies

DK: $4,800, FD: $3,800

There is some weather concerns in this one, but the game is projected to get in. We haven't seen power against lefties from Andrew McCutchen yet this season, but he has a 38% hard-contact rate and .390 wOBA. Overall Cutch has had a solid track recored against southpaws. He gets a rookie lefty making his first start tonight for St. Louis. Looking into his minor league numbers, he has shown little strikeout upside, walk issues, and a low groundball rate. The Phillies are my top stack of the night as well.

Eloy Jimenez - OF - Chicago White Sox

DK: $3,800, FD: $2,900

Glenn Sparkman is an average right-handed arm at best, who has a 16% strikeout rate and 4.79 xFIP this season. He throws mostly a 94mph fastball to right-handers, and a curveball 27% of the time. Jimenez has handled fastballs well, with a .445 wOBA and .536 ISO, but does struggle with off speed. Given Sparkman doesn't throw it much, this is a good spot for him. Overall he has a .229 ISO off right-handers, and the downside is his contact rates. In this matchup, it should work in his favor.



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