MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 6-16-17

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.

Top GPP Pitcher

I have a weird feeling that this is a trap game for Joe Biagini. It's a start against a typically sub-par offense, and Biagini has put up pretty good numbers thus far. However, this ballpark is not ideal, despite his 1.01 ERA at home this year. Also, Biagni is coming off of a less than stellar start against the Mariners. And back to the typically sub-par offense, the White Sox currently rank third in batting average over the past seven days. The White Sox also rank eighth in runs scored as well in the past seven days. Although everything on the surface seems to trend like Biagini is in line to have a good start, I have an uneasy feeling. With that said, he's still priced extremely well on both DraftKings and FanDuel to warrant rostering in GPP's. Who knows, maybe he will have a little less ownership do to his poor performance in his last start.

Top GPP Hitters

Don't tell Nelson Cruz, but I feel like a bad friend. I think this is only the second time all season I've talked about Cruz for DFS purposes. I'm not really sure what it is, but I'm still a huge fan of the righty masher. I'll admit that Cruz has probably had better spots this year, but there are a ton of factors on his side. The ballpark this time of year is a dream for hitters, and we saw Cruz do massive damage in Arlington when he used to don those colors. He's also facing Tyson Ross, who once dazzled in San Diego, but making his first start of the year in June, has to leave you wondering how effective he really is going to be. He hasn't pitched in the bigs since opening day of 2016, so there may be rust, even though he has been throwing rehab starts. Cruz has looked good so far this month, with a .433 wOBA and .244 ISO. With the expected run total of 5.75, Vegas has to think that Ross is going to get hit a bit here. I'll take my chances with Cruz.

Are you unsure who Miguel Diaz is? He's a relief pitcher with the Padres making his second straight start. He lasted just two innings against the Royals last time out, and I really don't see this going to well for Diaz. When you factor in the tough ballpark for pitchers and this offense of Milwaukee, Diaz could be in trouble. As a lefty, Travis Shaw is in a prime spot. Lefties have taken Diaz deep three times in just 9.2 innings on the season, while holding a .442 wOBA against him. On the other side of things, Shaw just dominates righties, especially in that ballpark. Shaw has crushed righties this year, hitting nine of his 11 home runs against righties on the year. Shaw also is coming off of three straight multi hit games. Now that he's back in Miller Park tonight, Shaw should be able to continue this pace. Shaw comes into this game with a .376 wOBA at home as well this year. Needless to say, Shaw is in line for a pretty big game tonight.

On the other side of the diamond, we have the Padres, who typically you don't want to play, but in this scenario, Franchy Cordero has been great lately. Sure, recommending a hitter against a starter who has a 2.46 ERA is not always the greatest thing. However, it's Junior Guerra, who has good numbers, but has struggled with a walk rate of 11.9%. Although the Padres typically are awful at drawing walks (currently rank 25th in MLB), they are middle of the pack over the past seven days. With Guerra on the hill, this could lead to potentially more RBI opportunities for Cordero. The lefty has extremely good numbers against righties this year and gets a great ballpark to hit at. Ironically enough, all three of Cordero's home runs have come at Petco Park, but that also has to do with him playing 12 games at home compared to just five games so far on the road. But he has boasted that power all in this month.

Once upon a time, there was this hitter named Yan Gomes. Gomes used to destroy left handed hitters while hitting high in the Indians batting order. Back in 2013 and 2014, Gomes blasted 11 home runs against lefties in that span, while never putting up less than .186. Then, due to injuries, Gomes has had an awful past few years. However, in 2017, Gomes is boasting a crazy .282 ISO against lefties while hitting three home runs in just 39 at-bats. Although his overall numbers are somewhat depressing, going against lefties, I like my chances with Gomes. Gomes gets to face Nik Turley in this game tonight. Turley has only thrown one other game in his career at the big league level, and it did not go well. He didn't complete five innings against a weak GIants team, while allowing eight hits and four runs. With this powerful Indians lineup, Turley is in line to struggle heavily here. By rostering Gomes, you have a chance of getting extremely cheap power.