MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 8-19-17

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

Zack Greinke is far and away my top GPP arm on this slate. He is expensive, but that's okay. I really wonder if people will pay up for either him and Sale, or just go cheap and stack some of the popular offense on the night. Minnesota continues to strike out at a ridiculous rate against right-handed starters (see Godley's line last night), and should do so again tonight against Greinke. Love Greinke in all formats on this slate.

Top GPP Hitters

It's hard to not like Adrian Beltre tonight against Derek Holland. Beltre has killed lefties all year, (and his whole career for that matter), and should have no problem doing so again here. Holland struggles against righties, and should see a decent dose of them tonight, making the Rangers one of the top teams on the slate. Beltre should have plenty of chances with RISP, and should pay off that hefty salary tonight.

Yuli Gurriel has destroyed right-handed pitching this year, and goes as one of the top contrarian plays on the slate. Kendall Graveman has had a rough year away from home, and should run into plenty of problems with this Houston offense. Houston will be overlooked tonight with games in Texas and Coors, and figure to be a contrarian stack. I have Gurriel homering tonight, so that's all you should need if you decide to play him tonight.

There's only one reason we ever really like Billy Hamilton, and that is for stolen base upside. He has tons of that tonight against Teheran and it goes up if Flowers is the catcher. Not to mention this ballpark is built for lefties, so Hamilton could get ahold of one in that short RF porch. But back to the real reason. Billy should get on multiple times tonight, and if he does, expect multiple stolen bases. In play in all formats for me tonight at this price

With most of the positions offering top talent at a premium price, I'm looking to punt catcher tonight. The guy I like is Cameron Rupp. Rupp hasn't had that great of a year at the plate, in terms of batting average, and his number of strikeouts, but his power was never in question. Ty Blach has been roughed up by right-handed hitter this year, and can be susceptible to the long-ball at times. Nobody is going to play Rupp in this ballpark, so I'm looking to get ahead of the pack with a low-risk, high-upside catcher.