MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 5-21-17

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.

MONITOR WEATHER REPORTS TODAY.

Top GPP Pitcher

This was a tough choice today, and I went with Archer solely because of lower ownership likelihood and a higher swinging strike rate of 11.8. Stephen Strasburg may have a better matchup, and is another fantastic play, but he will be highly owned today. The Yankees bats are potent and Archer has been giving up some home runs this year, but I think he will be racking up plenty of K's against these sluggers as well. He only had 5 over 7 innings last time out.

Archer is also at home and he simply pitches better when at home. This season he has nearly 2 points less on his home ERA, and has a whopping 44 K's in 33 innings pitched. The Rays can score plenty of runs today, so run support and a W are likely for Archer today as well.

Top GPP Hitters

Blackmon and Trout seem to be the big two today, but Blackmon facing Arroyo is simply too much to pass up today. Blackmon has been consistent this season and only has one goose egg in the points column over his past 7 games. Besides that he has 10+ DraftKings points over that same span, actually averaging 13.3 DraftKings points. He has been hot and playing in Cincy today against Arroyo has me smelling a big big day today.

Switch hitting Fowler really struggled last night, even with extra at bats putting up 2 points in 6 plate appearances. Today he faces Matt Cain in what should be a plus matchup for sure. Fowler should get back on track today, and return to his nearly 8 Fantasy points a game self. Prior to last night he had produced a 30, 18, and 9 DraftKing points. Leading off with a 0.365 wOBA against right-handed pitching, at a fair price and with 5 projected runs is enough for me to plug him in lineups today.

Longoria has a fantastic history against Sabathia, and although BvP should not be a primary tool for determining DFS plays it can help resolve toss up plays. In 73 AB's against C.C. Sabathia he is hitting .411 with a .822 slugging percentage. 7 home runs and only 7 K's in these 73 at bats also are notable.

Nothing is a given but his numbers this season against lefties including a .342 wOBA, batting 3rd and his track record against the starter have Longoria as a lock for me today.

Weeks is in the lineup today and like Longoria has had his way with lefties this season. He is cheap and batting cleanup in a game I think the Rays will run away with. Unlike Longo Weeks doesn't have a dominant track record against the old vet, but his 0.447 wOBA is appealing enough and batting cleanup to potentially knock in some runners and even hit a home run has me interested.

Good Luck everyone!