MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 6-20-17

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

Full disclosure: I truly do not believe in any starter other than Chris Sale tonight. Each and every other starter has flaws or are in a bad spot. But with that said, I've landed on Michael Pineda. Pineda got hammered by this same Angels team in his last time out. The sad part about that was that it occurred at Angels Stadium, where you typically see low scoring affairs. However, the Angels put up five runs against the 28-year old. Pineda only struck out two batters as well in that outing. Despite this game being at Yankee Stadium, I am looking for Pineda to rebound here. We've actually seen this twice already this season with Pineda. In his first starts against Tampa Bay and Kansas City this year, he struggled, getting hit hard. However, when he saw them again in his next start (both occurring at home), Pineda put up much better numbers, in addition to collecting a win in both of those starts. On the year, Pineda has a 1.96 ERA at home, which is startling due to the hitter friendly atmosphere. You typically need to be concerned about left handed batters at Yankee Stadium, but the Angels do not have that many lefties that could really do damage.

Top GPP Hitters

If you recall, I was an early adopter of rostering Cody Bellinger. Then, I backed off from him for a bit, but it's a no-brainer to roster him now. Bellinger is a little pricey on DraftKings, but that might contribute to a lower ownership rate. Due to recency bias though, you have to expect he will warrant a high ownership. But, with the massive power and upside he's seen, he has to be considered. Bellinger has nine dongs in his past nine games, while boasting a .610 wOBA. Bellinger also holds a .394 ISO at home on the year. Robert Gsellman is coming off a pretty awful start, allowing seven runs to the Nationals. Gsellman has gotten crushed on the road this year, allowing a 6.03 ERA away from New York. Although Gsellman is seemingly a reverse splits pitcher, he still can struggle against lefties, which is evident by the mashing the Nats did against him.

It looks like Eric Thames is completely back. Despite going 0-for-8 over his past two games, Thames had homered in four games prior to that. Although just putting up a .1944 batting average (but .349 wOBA) in the month of June, he's knocked out six homers. It's evident that Thames still has massive power in that bat. Despite Thames' .230 average at home, he's still knocked out ten homers for an ISO of .279. Chad Kuhl has not been good at all this year, despite not allowing more than three runs in each of his past three outings. Lefties have obliterated Kuhl to the tune of .423 wOBA and a 1.67 HR/9 on the year. Oddly enough about Kuhl is that he has a 7.36 ERA at home, which is a huge pitcher friendly park. Kuhl has just a 3.42 ERA on the road, but with this being at an extreme hitters park in Milwaukee, Kuhl should be in trouble.

Call me what you'd like, but I'm strolling down BvP road. It's sometimes a lonely road, but when it pays off and you find DFS gold, it is most certainly worth it. Brandon Belt has faced Julio Teheran 12 times and has seven hits in that span. I should also note that two of those hits are homers, despite the majority being singles. But then again, it's just BvP. Belt does have an impressive .229 ISO this season against righties, which is up from his career .190 ISO. Sadly, Belt hasn't shown much power this month, knocking out just one ball. However, he does get a good ballpark here in the new Atlanta stadium. It also helps that you will get extremely low ownership since first base is usually clogged by high priced options. His price is also extremely affordable on FanDuel.

I'm not going to lie, Odubel Herrera has had an awful season. However, when you can get a leadoff guy at this price tags, it's hard to over look him. Sure, the opposing Mike Leake is a somewhat good pitcher, but the Citizens Bank Ballpark should help out Herrera here. On a positive note, Herrera has had a pretty fantastic month of June. He's had a .400 wOBA and a .268 ISO. Herrera has benefited from an insane BABIP of .415 this month, so his streak might not last that long. I'm going to ride this out as long as I can. As for Leake, he has had a pretty good year, but is allowing a .310 wOBA to lefties. Leake did get blasted for six runs in his last start out. With all the factors on Herrera's side, I have to like my chances with his small price tag.