MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 8-10-17

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 are taking some risk anytime you roster a pitcher in Chase Field against this offense. Their front five hitters are dangerous, and Chase Field enhances their offensive performance. With that being said, they also still strikeout quite a bit against right-handed pitching (23%). That doesn't go away when they are at home either. With James Paxton, Jacob deGrom, and Danny Salazar in safer spots with upside, Darvish shouldn't see a ton of ownership on this slate. He also offers up a small discount from some of those names. Darvish was excellent in his Dodgers debut, striking out ten over seven innings against the Mets. Given the fact he has allowed ten earned runs and seven earned runs in separate starts over the last ten starts, his numbers are a bit inflated. Darvish is still missing a ton of bats, and provides one of the higher upsides from a pitcher. Darvish has held right-handed bats to a .266 wOBA this season, and lefties a .315 wOBA. Arizona is a predominantly right-handed lineup. David Peralta and Jake Lamb are the only two lefties of any real concern. He will also have to watch out for a red-hot Paul Goldschmidt. Darvish carries some risk, but double-digit strikeouts are not out of the question. Vegas also believes that the Dodgers have an excellent chance at a win tonight, which means Darvish does as well. Can you blame them? This is the hottest team in baseball. Darvish has a 26.8% strikeout rate this season and a 12.1% swinging strike rate. Darvish's use of his off-speed pitches should be key here, since Arizona is average at best against those types.

Top GPP Hitters

George Springer has established himself as a "lefty-masher". He ranks ninth in ISO, fifth in wOBA, and fifth in wRC+ against southpaws among qualified hitters. His strikeout rate sits at 15.3% as well, which is a plus for him in comparison to prior years. Springer gets a lefty tonight, who actually is able to miss a ton of bats. Rodon is coming off of a few starts where he allowed minimal damage, and struck out the rest. Rodon has allowed a .345 wOBA to right-handers in his career, with a 1.32 HR/9. Paying up for a bat against a pitcher who can quiet a ball club quickly can be risky, but that is exactly why Springer is a tournament play. Springer is a premium play in this ballpark, that has an above average park factor rating for home runs.

Lucas Duda and Jay Bruce out of The Big Apple for good means we get a weaker New York lineup. That part is true, but Bruce leaving opens the door for more Curtis Granderson at-bats. With that being said, his .200+ ISO against right-handers can still be of use in tournaments. He will also likely hit in a spot where he can drive in some runs. Granderson is obviously on the wrong side of 30, with not much left in the tank. He gets Vincent Velasquez tonight, who has allowed a .373 wOBA to lefties this season, and a .412 wOBA to lefties when at home. He is giving up a 36.1% hard-contact rate to lefties this year, and 41% at home. Citizens Bank Park is a big plus for home run power, being only 330 down in right field. Granderson is extremely cheap on FanDuel, where he might garnish more ownership due to that. DraftKings he sits in the mid-range where I expect him to be overlooked. Granderson moving away from Citi Field has been a big plus this season. He has a .396 wOBA and .240 ISO compared to a .308 wOBA and .198 ISO at home.

Ryan Braun, Domingo Santana, and Hernan Perez will draw a lot of attention, but this is a friendly reminder not to forget about Keon Broxton. Much like a lot of these Milwaukee bats, Broxton strikes out a lot. He qualifies as that boom-or-bust character player. HIs 35.4% strikeout rate isn't pretty against lefties, but the .247 ISO is. His hard-contact at home is 40.8%, which is 12% higher than when on the road. Broxton can easily go 0-for-4 in this matchup, or have a multi-hit game with a home run. There is a wide range of outcomes here. The matchup is against a late round pick, named Deitrich Enns. His strikeout stuff has been up and down in the minors, and the same goes for his performances. Milwaukee has one of the higher run totals tonight, and hopefully can do better than they did last night against Bartolo Colon.

If you are looking for a cheap catcher with upside, Yan Gomes has gotten back to his ways against lefties this year. His numbers above speak for themselves. His hard-contact sits at 39.7% against southpaws, which is an upgrade from the 27.3% rate against right-handers. Gomes hits in the bottom of the order, which is one of the downsides to him, but we can't gripe a lot at this price. Gomes has been seeing the ball much better in the second half, cutting his K% in half, and upping his line drive rate. Blake Snell has bounced back and forth throughout the minors, and hasn't really performed at the major league level. He has allowed a career .345 wOBA to right-handers, and a .361 wOBA this year over 60.2 innings. Snell has given up a home run in each of his last four starts, and has in 10 of his 14 starts this season.