MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 7-28-17

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

Despite a poor last outing, I really don't think you can go wrong with Alex Wood on this slate. However, to be a little contrarian, and not waste all your salary, I do very much like Danny Salazar as well. After coming out of relief in two appearances, Salazar returned to the starting rotation and pitched extremely well, going seven innings while allowing just one hit. He struck out eight batters while facing just the minimum batters in seven innings. And this was all against the Blue Jays! Salazar is facing the White Sox, a team that you'd think he has great numbers against, but unfortunately he doesn't. He's 5-4 with a 3.98 ERA in his career against with White Sox. It's not terrible, but you'd think for as poor as this White Sox offense has been over the years, that he'd have better numbers. His history with the divisional foes isn't all bad. With the firesale that is going on in Chicago, Salazar is going to face some hitters who probably shouldn't be in the majors. If he's able to navigate around Jose Abreu, Salazar really could put fourth a good outing. It should be noted that Abreu does have good numbers against Salazar, hitting three homers and a .381 batting average. Besides Abreu, most of the Chicago hitters do not have good numbers against Salazar.

Top GPP Hitters

Giancarlo Stanton is sure expensive tonight, but he could easily make up that price tag. Let's start with the opposing starter, Sal Romano. Romano is coming off of his last start where he gave up just one run in six innings to....this same exact Marlins team! However, that was only his fourth start, and typically, when hitters get a chance to face a starter again, they tend to do better second time around. Two starts ago, Romano got rocked for six runs in just four innings against the Diamondbacks. Against righties overall, Romano is allowing a .384 wOBA and a 1.86 HR/9 to righties on the year. Stanton was 0-for-4 in the first matchup, but I have a good feeling that changes in a positive way tonight. Stanton might just be the hottest hitter since the All-Star break, going deep seven times in just 13 games. Even at this price tag, I still feel Stanton is going to be highly owned. My only hope is that people look at his 0-for-4 BvP against Romano and they skip on rostering Stanton tonight.

Is it too corny to make a 'when there's Smoak, there's fire' joke? Anyways, the switch hitting Justin Smoak has caught fire a bit as of late, hitting five homers since the break. In those 14 games, Smoak also owns a .354 ISO. Statistically, Smoak has performed better against lefties, but he still is pretty deadly against righties, including a .294 ISO. Rogers Centre definitely benefits hitters and it's no different for Smoak. He's gone deep 14 times there with a .393 wOBA. He might be a little overpriced on DraftKings, but as a swerve on FanDuel, he is an extremely nice play. It's hard to hate on Parker Bridwell, but despite his 3.09 ERA, he still is young and could struggle tonight. Surprisingly enough, Bridwell owns just a 2.04 ERA on the road, compared to his 3.72 ERA at home in a pitcher friendly ballpark. He's had three straight quality starts, but against a professional hitter like Smoak, he could be in for some trouble. His 2.04 ERA on the road looks like its destined to regress. And let's not forget, with every start, there's more and more video hitters can watch, which makes it easier for hitters to figure out Bridwell.

You may not believe me, but I had originally pegged Paul DeJong in my article the other day, but ultimately opted with going against a right handed shortstop facing a lefty. Long story short, DeJong went deep that night and the guy I wrote up did not play. As they say hindsight is 20/20. Anyways, DeJong has been absolutely on fire since the start of the second half. DeJong has already blasted five home runs in just 14 games since the All-Star break. He's also been a lefty masher, smacking four home runs in 33 at-bats against southpaws. As for his home splits, he owns a .478 wOBA at Busch Stadium. I'm not too concerned about Robbie Ray and his 3.15 ERA, mainly because he owns a 4.41 ERA since the middle of June. In that same seven game span, Ray has also surrendered eight home runs. On the season, Ray is allowing a .298 wOBA and a 1.24 HR/9 to righties. The only hesitation I have is that the Cardinals scored zero runs yesterday and Ray does own a pretty impressive 1.51 ERA in nine road starts.

If you look at Logan Forsythe's overall stats on the season, it's pretty underwhelming. His .244 batting average with just three home runs is quite pathetic. Looking at the big picture, Forsythe did miss some time due to injury and it looks like he just hasn't got it going since. However, he's been a lefty masher in his career, and this season has been no different. He doesn't have a huge sample size against lefties, but in his 71 at-bats, he's collected 24 hits for a .338 batting average. He's also hit two of his three home runs against lefties on the season. Matt Moore is another guy who has had a bad 2017 season, and he owns a 7.61 ERA on the road. In his last seven starts, Moore owns a pitiful 6.94 ERA. This will be the first time the former team mates will face off against each other.