MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 7-17-17

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'll be honest with you, I'm a little sick to my stomach even thinking about rostering Josh Tomlin and his 5.90 ERA this year. Tomlin's numbers haven't been great, but his FIP is a lot lower than his ERA and he has a BABIP of .347, which makes me think he's been getting unlucky. On a good note, Tomlin is coming off of a good start, where he went seven innings and gave up just two runs. The downside there is that it was against the Padres. The Giants offense isn't as bad as the Padres, but they still aren't great. This ballpark is definitely going to help Tomlin here as well. When you add in his price tag and the expected low ownership, rostering Tomlin might pay off.

Top GPP Hitters

The little guy somehow has 14 home runs on the year, and is overall, just killing the ball. Altuve has had eight straight games of double digit points on DraftKings recently. He boasts a .558 wOBA and a .302 ISO in the month of July. Although he's only hit five homers against lefties, he holds a .244 ISO against lefties on the year. Altuve is expensive, which hopefully could lower his ownership rate. Although Ariel Miranda has had a few good starts this year, he still has blow out potential, like his last start, where he surrendered six runs in five innings. Altuve is only 3-for-12 against Miranda in his career, but that's still a very small sample size.

With his now third base eligibility on FanDuel, Freddie Freeman offers a very unique option instead of Nolan Arenado. I expect ownership to be extremely low for Freeman, especially considering he's facing a lefty, and that lefty has the name value of Jon Lester. Lester has had a very sub-par season, compiling a 4.25 ERA thus far. Lester has given up more HR/9 and has a higher BABIP than in years past. Lester got blasted for ten runs (only four earned) in 2/3 innings in his past start. Although Lester owns a .218 wOBA against lefties, he's had a rough time on the road with his 4.96 on the road. Freeman is 5-for-14 in his career against Lester with a home run. He also owns a .359 ISO at home this year.

This is a pretty simple selection here, considering Jordan Zimmermann is still Jordan Zimmermann. Over his last three starts, Zimmermann owns a 9.95 ERA. He's also given up four runs in that span. Needless to say, Zimmermann is back to being extremely bad. Zimmermann is allowing a .387 wOBA and a 2.18 HR/9 to lefties on the year. Eric Hosmer has hit seven of his 12 home runs at home this season. Hosmer is 0-for-8 over his past two games, and considering the amount of high priced first basemen, Hosmer could get lost in the shuffle. On FanDuel, you get a pretty good savings. It's an interesting first basemen lineup, when you consider Coors is in play tonight.

Matt Joyce really isn't a great hitter, but he's been able to put together some good games here and there. Although he's hit the majority of his home runs on the road, Joyce has a better wOBA of .334 at home. Joyce has hits in seven of his last nine games while posting a .329 wOBA. Jake Odorizzi should benefit from the ballpark here, but he still holds a 4.91 ERA on the road this year. He's also allowing a .346 wOBA to lefties on the year. Odorizzi got roughed up in his last start prior to the All-Star game. He gave up seven runs to the Red Sox in just 4.1 innings. One good thing about Joyce is that you should get extremely low owership rate on him. Sometimes, the late games get overlooked, even if they are in a good position like Matt Joyce.