MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 7-25-17

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

This entire slate has a ton of viable starters, but to me, Lance Lynn's price tag works best. Lynn owns just a 1.76 ERA over his past five starts, including four quality starts in that span. He gets a good matchup against the Rockies who do struggle on the road. The Rockies are in the bottom three of all the majors with just 48 home runs on the road. Their road average of .252 ranks 14th best this year. Obviously this offense takes a back seat when it is on the road. The Rockies also have a bunch of righties in their lineup, which benefits Lynn, who is allowing just a .251 wOBA to righties. At home, Lynn also has better numbers like his 2.66 ERA this year. The only drawback about Lynn is that he doesn't strike out enough batters on a consistent basis. He's struggled, just averaging 3.75 strikeouts over his past four games. Then again, his last four starts were against teams (NYM X2, PIT, MIA) that do not strike out a whole lot.

Top GPP Hitters

The fact that you can now play Freddie Freeman at third base, he matters so much more in the DFS realm. Add to the fact that he's been a very productive hitter since returning from the DL has also helped. His overall numbers in the second half aren't great, but he has hit two home runs in just 11 games, so the power is still there. He has serious power numbers as well against righties. Freeman is in a great ballpark again, and unlike last night, has a mediocre pitcher on the mound in Taijuan Walker. Walker has had a pretty up and down season but has struggled against lefties. He's allowing a 1.46 HR/9 and a .333 wOBA to lefties on the year. When you factor in his 4.50 ERA at home, I expect Walker to get touched up pretty good tonight.

Not many people know this but Zack Cozart is a complete beast against left handed pitchers. Although Jordan Montgomery does have good numbers this year, like most lefties, he has struggled a bit against righties. Montgomery is allowing a .314 wOBA to righties on the year. He's also been hit pretty bad this season, owning a 6.41 ERA and allowing five home runs in just 19.2 innings this month. Those numbers are mainly due to his last outing, where he gave up six runs to the Twins. Cozart has already gone deep three times in this second half, and owns a .500 wOBA in that same span. He looks like he's locked in, and when you add his phenomenal numbers against lefties, it's hard to think that Cozart won't produce. Even though he plays at Great American Ballpark, he still has good numbers on the road where he's hit six home runs and a .403 wOBA.

Despite the Orioles struggles, Trey Mancini has been a bright spot of some sorts. Despite his 0-for-4 yesterday, Mancini still has a .299 wOBA this month. It's not great, but he can still hit. A good sign is that his strikeout percentage has dropped to 16% this month from June's 28%. He's also had his lowest BABIP month, so clearly the man is just not finding the holes in the field as he was in the previous months. It's hard to find things to knock on Jake Faria, mainly because his cup of tea in the majors has been so short. He's looked good, owning a 2.52 ERA, but did give up four runs to Oakland in his last start. Faria has also been a reverse splits pitcher, as right handed batters have hit all four of the home runs he's allowed this year. Tropicana should help him tonight, but it only takes one at-bat for Mancini to pay off that salary.

It's been a pretty poor season for Danny Valencia, but he still is a deadly hitter against left handed pitchers. He's hit four home runs this year in just 80 at-bats. He saw a lefty last night and went 1-for-4, which was a double. Although it's arguable that Drew Pomeranz' is a better starter than last nights Eduardo Rodriguez, Pomeranz can have blow up games. He's had three starts this year where he's allowed five or more runs to score. He's still a pretty good pitcher, don't get me wrong, but he can have trouble at times. He also can struggle with going deep into a game, and we all know that the Red Sox' pen has been taxed a lot recently. His best chances to do damage is against Pomeranz, but there's still potential if Valencia gets some at-bats against this bullpen. Obviously, Safeco Field isn't an ideal hitters park, but Valencia has hit five home runs and owns a .344 wOBA at home this year.