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. We also include an area to find the top stacks of the night for upside but also some lower owned that give you an edge.

Starting Pitcher

Trevor Bauer - Cincinnati Reds

DK: $11,700 - FD: $10,200

Trevor Bauer is someone who can light up the scoreboard tonight. He has a 28% strikeout rate on the season, and dominates right-handed hitters. This Padres lineup will be mostly right-handed bats, which bodes well for the Bauer upside. He has a 30% strikeout rate against right-handers. Bauer is a decent home favorite and the Padres have an implied total of four runs.

Tournament Bats

Eugenio Suarez - Cincinnati Reds - 3B

DK: $4,600 - FD: $3,800

Eugenio Suarez against a lefty? Yes, please. He has a .281 ISO and .411 wOBA off left-handed pitching this season. His hard-contact is at 54%. Eric Lauer is an average lefty who doesn't miss a ton of bats. He is allowing a 43% hard-contact rate and has a pedestrian groundball rate. He also is going to be on the road in one of the tougher ballparks to pitch in. It is a good spot for the right-handed bats in Cincinnati.

Jorge Polanco - Minnesota Twins - SS

DK: $4,400 - FD: $3,900

Jorge Polanco is a better points per dollar on DraftKings, which is where I would have more exposure, but is still worth a look on FanDuel. He has a .386 wOBA and .215 ISO off right-handers this season, and just a 15% strikeout rate. He takes on Ivan Nova who has allowed a .354 wOBA and .204 ISO to left-handed hitters since last season. It is a great spot for him to do damage, as is the rest of the Twins lineup with an implied total near six.

Jake Cave - Minnesota Twins - OF

DK: $3,200 - FD: $2,000

Jake Cave is a bare minimum punt play who has a .182 ISO and .340 wOBA off right-handers since last season. He also has a 30% strikeout rate, but Ivan Nova isn't a strikeout arm. This season his strikeout rate is 13.4% against left-handed hitters, and he is allowing a 36% hard-contact rate. Cave hits from the left side so he has those same attacking numbers as Polanco above.

Tournament Stacks

Kansas City Royals - Kansas City is a sneaky good stack tonight, and bring some value too. They won't be the most popular offense because they are so boom or bust and in a vacuum are not a very good offense. However there are some bats to stack against lefties, plus this is Baltimore. John Means has allowed a .333 wOBA and .184 ISO to right-handers this season. His xFIP is at 5.26, and the strikeout rate has been dropping over the last month. Whit Merrifield stands out with a .360 wOBA and .248 ISO against lefties, but Hunter Dozier has a .311 ISO. Jorge Soler has a .217 ISO and Cheslor Cuthbert has a .305 ISO. These are the names I would roll out in this spot.

Cincinnati Reds - The Reds have a few bats that stand out against left-handed pitching. Eric Lauer has over a 6.00 ERA on the road and a 3.10 ERA at home. Cincinnati shouldn't be kind to him tonight. His second half has been horrendous allowing a .392 wOBA and five home runs in 23.1 innings. I already mentioned Suarez, but Nick Senzel has a .386 wOBA and .233 ISO off southpaws. Aquino has been absolutely mashing and Philip Ervin has been a small sample size bat getting it done with a .579 wOBA and .404 ISO.



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