MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 6-23-17

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

You can ask my podcast partner Jason, but I have been so so slow to get on board with Alex Wood. It's probably because of disdain I still hold against him for the past few seasons. But regardless, I'm finally here y'all. Wood has been absolutely phenomenal all season. Sadly, this might be the first time I roster him, and he has to deal with Nolan Arenado. However, Wood can really neutralize the lefties in this lineup, and it's in a good ballpark for him. In addition to his 1.89 ERA at Dodger stadium, Wood also is only allowing a .209 wOBA at home. This Colorado offense has been better on the road this year than years past, but they still rank 18th in OPS. Another thing to be impressed by is that Wood actually pitched six shutout innings in Coors earlier this season.

Top GPP Hitters

Jose Ramirez has hit righties better this season, but he's been so good lately, that he has to be in consideration of rostering. However, his price tag, especially on DraftKings, is up there, which might make ownership levels a little lower than expected tonight. Ramirez is currently on a ten game hitting streak and has a .552 batting average in that span. Ramirez has also knocked three balls out of the park and has multi-hit games in nine of those contests. Ramirez has also compiled a .413 wOBA at home on the year. The way this whole offense is going, Ramirez could be in line for some serious RBI potential considering he is now hitting third.

I should admit that McCutchen's numbers against lefties have been stellar, while his numbers against righties has been somewhat depressing. However, he gets to face the 70-year old Adam Wainwright. Although Wainwright in reality is only 35, he sure does look awful out there. Wainwright holds a 5.75 ERA while also allowing a .376 wOBA to righties. Wainwright is coming off an outing where he gave up nine runs to Baltimore. Since Wainwright and McCutchen have been in the same division for as long as they've been playing, McCutchen has faced Wainwright 57 times. McCutchen is close to hitting him at a .300 clip with a slugging percentage of .544. However, most of this has come when Wainwright was a good and serviceable pitcher. Even though McCutchen looks old as well, he still should be able to get some good pitches and do some damage against Wainwright.

I'm not in love with Chris Owings on DraftKings, but I actually like his flexibility there. Plus, with his price tag way up there, you might see lower ownership than usual on Owings. Hitting fifth, behind guys like Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb, allows Owings to have ample opportunity for RBI's. When you factor in that the D'Backs are back at home, where they all perform better (for the most part), and are facing Mark Leiter Jr., it's a great spot for this entire team. Leiter has 12 appearances this year out of the bullpen for a total of 19 innings. Even if he is effective tonight, I'm not really sure he lasts long since he isn't stretched out. Sure, he's started and pitched deep into games in the minors, but that was a while ago. This means Owings getting at least a couple at-bats against a weak Philadelphia bullpen.

Why do the Sox have a six run total tonight? I'm really not sure. Yes, they are facing a pretty weak pitcher in Alex Meyer, but he's coming off of a good start, and well, the Sox have Josh Rutledge and Devin Marrero in their lineup most days. This offense just isn't as good as people think it is most days. However, Mitch Moreland has found his spot into the four hole now, and has pretty good numbers at Fenway Park. Despite hitting the majority of his homeruns away from Fenway, Moreland does hit for a better average at his new home park. He's coming off of a pretty terrible road trip, but did look good in their last homestand. In that five game stretch, Moreland put up a robust .539 wOBA, while hitting two home runs. As you would expect, Moreland has hit righties much better than lefties this year, and has an impressive .213 ISO. He's a far cry from the numbers David Ortiz put up last season as the Red Sox big lefty bopper, but Moreland has been pretty good. At that price tag, hitting fourth, you have to like your chances with him.