MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 8-1-17

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 used to be a huge fan of Aaron Nola, then it went away, but it seemingly is back again. It also helps that he faces a pretty weak offense in the Angels and in a terrible ball park for hitters. Despite pitching at a very friendly ballpark for hitters, Nola has just a 2.87 ERA at home compared to a 3.52 on the road. Since it's against the Angels, I'm not too concerned about Nola's road numbers. He's held righties to a .252 wOBA on the year, which bodes well against this righty heavy Angels team. There are a good amount of arms on this slate, but when you consider how poorly this Angels offense is, I like my chances with Nola. He's also a decent favorite, despite being on the road here.

Top GPP Hitters

You kind of have to be insane to roster Mike Moustakas at that price tag on DraftKings, but I can definitely see Moustakas viable on FanDuel. He's gone sort of under the radar this season and is tied for second in the American League with 30 homers. He's clearly been phenomenal against righties on this year with a .301 ISO. He's also hit 18 of his 30 home runs away from Kauffman Stadium. Camden Yards is where he gets to hit tonight, and it's an extremely hitter friendly park. It's so hitter friendly that tonight's starter, Dylan Bundy, is allowing a 1.80 HR/9 at home this year. Bundy has also been pretty erratic recently, giving up at least five runs in three of his past four starts. It puts him at a whopping 8.41 ERA in the month of July. It should also be noted that three of those starts were at home.

This is sort of a reverse from Moustaksas, as I'd more than likely roster Paul Goldschmidt on DraftKings over FanDuel tonight. It's mainly because he's the second highest priced option on FanDuel, compared to DraftKings where you have to scroll a little bit first to find him. He's clearly not having the best numbers against lefties in his career, so I think there's a good chance he goes under owned tonight. Also, when you add the fact that Jon Lester is on the hill, it will shy people away. But Lester owns his worst ERA since 2012 and just hasn't looked himself this year. He's allowing a .332 wOBA and 1.64 HR/9 to righties on the year. He also can not hold runners on base, which you typically don't need to mention when talking about a power hitter, but Goldschmidt has stolen 15 bags this year. As for Goldschmidt's career numbers against lefties, he has .249 ISO and .425 wOBA. Goldschmidt also posted a .407 wOBA in the month of July.

I love a lot of these Mariners today, mainly because they now get to face Nick Martinez instead of the recently traded Yu Darvish. Since the trade came so late yesterday, it looks like the algorithms didn't have time to adjust. As for Ben Gamel, it's hard to come by a lead off hitter with a sub-$3000 price tag. Sure, he will be highly owned, but he can easily pay off that salary. As most lefties, he has really good numbers against righties this year, and has a .367 wOBA on the road this year. This is a fantastic park, and now that the heat is continuing to rise in Texas, balls should be really carrying in this park. Martinez is allowing a .383 wOBA to lefties on the year and this is his first start in the majors since July 4th. He actually hasn't pitched in a minor league game since July 19th.

Oh Nick Markakis. I had a quota of discussing two Nick's in this article, and I succeeded! In all honesty, with this huge slate, you are going to need some savings. Enter Markakis. This guy is pretty cheap, especially on FanDuel, and had a good month of July. He had his highest ISO of .141 in July and also had a .329 wOBA. Kenta Maeda has also been pretty bad against lefties, allowing a .323 wOBA. Despite Markakis having minimal power (at best), Maeda is allowing a 1.96 HR/9 on the road. Maeda also has a pretty large 5.65 ERA on the road, so he could be in for some trouble tonight. I'm not super thrilled with playing Markakis, but at his price tag, he does have potential to easily pay off that salary.