MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 6-11-17

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 is one of the better pitching slates we have had in quite a while. I am giving the edge of top pitcher today to Carrasco solely because of the cost difference between he and Chris Archer today. We currently have Archer outscoring Carrasco by 3 points, but that differential doesn't concern me as much, especially on FanDuel.

Carrasco only gave DFS owner's 1.5 DraftKings points in his last start due to rain, but prior to that he looked like his standard self with 7 K's in 7 innings and only 4 hits allowed. He could easily produce a similar line today against the White Sox. Cleveland is favored today so he should line up for the Win, and has only fallen short of the quality start twice this season (besides the rain out).

With so many options, and a higher price tag Carrasco may be owned less too.

Top GPP Hitters

This kid is playing out of his mind right now. 19 homers already on the season, including another one yesterday. It had been an 8 game HR drought for Judge, but he is getting it done every way possible. He has a walk in his last 6 games, and he is hitting a whopping .332 on the season. When you pay this much for a player you want 10+ Fantasy points, and Judge has been able to get that more often than not. If Gausman makes a mistake today, Judge will certainyl capitalize.

Encarnacion has homered in back to back games, but he also has 5 hits in his last two as well. He may be heating up at the plate and facing the lefty Quintana makes him an interesting GPP play today. He hits lefties much better than right-handed pitching, and if he is heating up he could have three home run games in a row.

The Indians are projected to score a solid 5.25 runs today, and Encarnacion and his .341 wOBA make him a more than appealing option for me today. He also won't be as highly owned today which is also a plus.

Valbuena has been batting 4th or 5th when he has been playing, but it has to be noted he has been playing awfully this season. Assuming he gets the start today against the righty Paulino, he is in a good enough spot to be a very low owned player with upside. He has scored at least a few DraftKings points over his past four games, so perhaps he is trending in the right direction. We have him projected for 8.89 FanDuel points today so the Cafe optimizer likes him as a lower cost play.

Baez like Valbuena hasn't been tearing the cover off of the ball, but this should be considered a favorable enough matchup for Baez. I am leaning Baez over Chad Pinder, or playing both today for my value picks. Baez hasn't hit a home run in 7 games now, but he has the power potential to do it at any point. For now I am looking at Baez mostly on FanDuel where his price tag is significantly lower, but will play him plenty on DraftKings as well.

Baez has plenty of goose-eggs in his last five starts making him as risky of a play as you can get, but this Cubs lineup can do damage at anytime. Antonio Senzatela who oddly pitches worse on the road then at Coors, is on the road and could get roughed up today.

If Baez is not in the lineup a pivot to Pinder is not a terrible idea.

Good Luck everyone!