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

Jeff Samardzija (R), Giants

FanDuelDraftKingsOppFIPK%GB%Opp Run TotalMoneyline
$,8900$9,300PHI3.4624.843.23.5-113

On a smaller five game slate, pitching will be pretty narrowed down. It will be even more so tonight. Luis Severino and Aaron Nola should come in as the highest owned options on the slate, and then Jeff Samardzija being the third. I am not saying Samardzija will have low ownership, but he is a hedge away from the other two, or someone to play alongside if you are looking on two-pitcher sites. This game features the best ballpark for pitchers and also the best matchups. Both rank bottom five in wOBA and ISO against right-handers, but Philly is the team that offers up a lot of strikeout upside (23.5%). Nola has been on a tear lately and brings strikeout upside of his own, which leads me to the point of who comes away with a win in this one. I expect the game to be very low scoring, and there isn't a clear indicator for a win here. This applies to both pitchers.

Samardzija has a 3.36 xFIP this season, but a 4.74 ERA. His 65.5 LOB% is awfully low, and his .324 BABIP is 30 points higher than his career norm. He has a 10.3% swinging strike rate on the season, and has thrown six or more innings in all but one of his last ten starts. Samardzija is strong at eating innings, and doesn't allow the long ball when at home. Samardzija, Severino, and Nola should be your core tonight, so this pick won't come as a shocker.

Top GPP Hitters

Jose Abreu (R), White Sox

FanDuelDraftKingsOpp Pitcher
& Handedness
wOBA vs RHPISO vs RHPwRC+ vs RHPBatting
Order
Team
Run Total
$3,100$4,000Tyson Ross - R.336.21610835

Tyson Ross was someone I went away from in the past, but pitching in Texas trying to get his feet under him is a different story. He has allowed a 36% hard-contact rate to right-handers and has just a 34% groundball rate against them. This is a bit off given Ross was one of the more heavier groundball pitchers when healthy. He has also allowed a .414 wOBA in a very small sample size. Ross throws his slider about 35% of the time, and Abreu ranks 32nd in the league against sliders. This ballpark is an upgrade for visiting hitters, and the White Sox offer up quite a bit of low ownership plays with most of the focus elsewhere.

Aaron Hicks (R) Yankees

FanDuelDraftKingsOpp Pitcher
& Handedness
wOBA vs LHP



ISO vs LHPwRC+ vs LHP



Batting
Order
Team
Run Total
$3,300$4,200Steven Matz - L.373.22713424.5

This Yankees offense has cooled off from the first half, but the right-handers will have a chance to assert themselves against the lefty, Steven Matz. The southpaw has allowed a .365 wOBA to right-handers this season, with a 2.01 HR/9. The hard-contact is up and the amount of swings and misses are down for Matz. He has been roughed up for 26 earned runs in the second half over 25 innings, allowing a .436 wOBA. Aaron Hicks has a .373 wOBA off lefties this season, and a .227 ISO. Hitting second in the order also gives him an advantage, and he doesn't cost much either.

Todd Frazier (R) Yankees

FanDuelDraftKingsOpp Pitcher
& Handedness
wOBA vs LHP



ISO vs LHPwRC+ vs LHP



Batting
Order
Team
Run Total
$3,400$3,300Steven Matz - L.331.27710564.5

Now that you have the just on Matz, we can look at another Yankee, a newly acquired one in fact. Todd Frazier hasn't done much in pinstripes this season, whether it was in Chicago or in New York. Frazier has been unlucky against southpaws this season, with a .138 BABIP. Everything else checks out, with a sub-20% strikeout rate, .277 ISO, and 35.4% hard-contact rate. He also hits everything into the air. Matz throws a ton of fastballs, which bodes well for Frazier with him being an above average hitter against the fastball. Frazier is the Yankee that should get lost in the mix today for tournaments.

Daniel Murphy (L), Nationals

FanDuelDraftKingsOpp Pitcher
& Handedness
wOBA vs RHP



ISO vs RHP



wRC+ vs RHP



Batting
Order
Team
Run Total
$3,300$5,300Jhoulys Chacin - R.399.25414334

Daniel Murphy is an interesting pay up option on this slate, mainly because there are a lack of options. I am speaking to DraftKings of course, as Murphy's FanDuel price is dirt cheap. Jhoulys Chacin has been solid at home, but we know his struggles against lefties reside. He has allowed a .349 wOBA with a 5.17 xFIP. Murphy is one of the better lefties in the game, and will have to pick up some slack with Bryce Harper out of the lineup. While Murphy moves to Petco Park, lefties aren't hurt nearly as bad in the park factor department as right-handers. I am not really on board with Washington bats tonight, outside of Murphy.



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