MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 6-2-17

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'm not sure if I've ever recommended a Rockies starting pitcher, but regardless, I'm doing it right now. German Marquez comes into this game with a 1.06 ERA in three road starts. He's also allowing just a .281 wOBA on the road this season. Marquez also is in a favorable matchup here against the Padres, who are bottom three in runs scored. Despite having extremely good numbers on the road, he has a less than desirable strikeout rate of 23% on the road. With San Diego in the top five in most strikeouts on the year, Marquez should be able to strike out a good amount of batters. Sure, he will have to navigate around hitters like Wil Myers, but outside of him, there isn't much in that Padres lineup that scares me.

Top GPP Hitters

I will always remember Bronson Arroyo for his album, getting slapped by Alex Rodriguez, and Wily Mo Pena. Through all of that, he has had a good career. However, he's now 40 years old, and he's nowhere close to his old self. Out of his ten starts this year, he only has two quality starts and holds a 6.62 ERA. Lefties have absolutely destroyed Arroyo this year, but righties are still compiling a .379 wOBA and a 2.37 HR/9. That brings me to Matt Kemp, who has great numbers against righties on the year. Kemp has hit homers in back-to-back games and has a .402 wOBA this month. This game is also at a hitter friendly ballpark in Great American Ballpark.

Andrew Benintendi has been on the struggle bus lately. Benintendi put together a very unimpressive .258 wOBA in the month of May, but does get a great matchup against Alec Asher tonight. A reason for Benintendi's bad numbers is a woeful .217 BABIP in May. Benintendi's walk rate also increased in May, so he's been a little more patient of a hitter lately. Asher has been in and out of the bullpen this year and will be making just his fourth start this year. His last start against the Astros was awful. Asher lasted just two innings and surrendered six runs. Although Camden Yards is a great hitters park, Asher hasn't allowed a home run there all season and holds a 0.87 ERA there. This is something that I don't think will be sustained, and against a Red Sox team that's starting to hit the ball more, Asher could be in a lot of trouble.

I slightly think that Jimmy Nelson will have an okay outing. But my concern for him is that he's an extreme reverse splits guy, which means the few righties in this Dodgers lineup could do some serious damage. That's why I have Logan Forsythe here. You have to take Forsythe's terrible numbers against righties with a grain of salt. For starters, he's been injured for most of the season, so the sample size isn't as massive as you'd expect. Last season, he boasted a .377 wOBA and a .177 ISO against righties. Forsythe's lone home run has come on the road as well. Miller Park is also a tremendous place for hitters on most nights.

Luis Valbuena is a huge boom or bust play, and it's no different tonight. The ballpark still is unfavorable but he does get to face Kyle Gibson. Gibson comes into this game with a 7.85 ERA overall and a 8.79 ERA on the road. Gibson also is allowing 1.93 HR/9 and .419 wOBA to lefties on the season. Gibson is arguably coming off his best performance of the season, but he still allowed two earned runs and nine baserunners in 5 1/3 innings of work against the Rays. Surprisingly, Valbuena has hit better at home this year, with a .319 wOBA and an ISO of .171. He still has a good amount of power but struggles striking out. Luckily, Gibson only has a 12.5% stirkeout rate against lefties on the year. Despite the weak-ish lineup, Gibson could be due for another long night on the hill.