MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 8-22-17

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'll be honest when I say I'm not super thrilled at Charlie Morton's price tag, but he's in a really good matchup here. First off, the Bryce Harperless Nationals have been one of the worst offenses this month, especially for power numbers. They are in the bottom third in the league in total home runs this month. Without Harper, it's been pretty evident that this Nats offense is pretty pedestrian. The only real guys that Morton needs to concern himself with is Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman. Sure, Anthony Rendon is a good hitter too, but he mainly does damage against lefties. Admittedly, Morton has given up a .355 wOBA to righties, so that does make me a little hesitant. However, Morton's 3.45 ERA at home does give me some hope. In addition, Morton does have a 2.53 ERA over his past five games, so he is pitching well. And you always have to like a 50.7% ground ball rate.

Top GPP Hitters

Nelson Cruz really hasn't found himself in many touting articles this year. It's not that Cruz has been bad, but he just hasn't been his usual self. In the second half, however, he has found his power bat once again. In just 34 games, he's gone deep 14 times for a .377 ISO in the second half. Typically a lefty masher, Cruz has put up better numbers against righties on the year, including a .393 wOBA. Cruz has also collected at least one hit in 19 of his past 20 games. Away from Safeco this year, Cruz has a pretty impressive .323 ISO. He also gets a huge advantage being able to face Lucas Sims, who is making just his fifth start of the season. Sims hasn't been completely terrible, but he is allowing a 1.84 HR/9 and a .380 wOBA to righties on the year. It's a very small sample size, but it does look like Cruz could take advantage of his inexperience.

Well, well, well. Who really thought Chris Taylor would be the Dodgers lead-off hitter this deep in the season? But, he's been phenomenal hitting lead-off and has really been the catalyst on most nights for the best team in baseball. Now, at somepoint, we will see some regression for Taylor, as his .400 BABIP is just not a sustainable number. With that said, I'm still going to roster Taylor until he starts to show some regression. Like Cruz, Taylor has really turned it on since the All-Star break, posting a .457 wOBA and .323 ISO. Although PNC Park isn't a good hitters park, Taylor has excelled on the road compared to his home numbers. He's also hit ten of his 17 home runs away from Dodger Stadium. Sadly, he did have a pretty underwhelming game last night, but that was also against Gerrit Cole. Jameson Taillon has shown glimpses of putting up good games, but for the most part, has been pretty bad. He is one of those pitchers who can give up runs in bunches, as he did give up 18 total runs in two consecutive games just a little while ago. He comes into this game off a game where he surrendered four runs in just five innings. With Taylor the lead-off hitter, he could be in line to do some damage against Taillon.

I think you know where I'm gonna go with this...Jonathan Lucroy is a much better play on FanDuel! As most of this season has been, Lucroy has had a very affordable price tag on FanDuel. Lucroy has put up better numbers since being traded to Colorado, posting a .394 wOBA. Lucroy still hasn't shown any power, but it's a good sign that he's collecting hits again. He has benefited by playing most of his games with Colorado at Coors Field. However, in the four road games that he's played with the Rockies, he's collected hits in three of those four games. His numbers against lefties aren't the best, but all of Lucroy's numbers are not good. Danny Duffy is a good pitcher, but has been giving up a lot of hits. Against righties, he's allowing a .337 wOBA. I have a little concern, considering Duffy has a huge strikeout rate, but at his price tag, it's hard not to take a chance on Lucroy on FanDuel.

Unfortunately, Ketel Marte does not hit in a good spot in the order. However, he still has some upside here against a pitcher who hasn't been in the majors since May. In his last start, he gave up seven earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. He has an insane .452 wOBA to righties this year. It's a really small sample size, so let's look at his numbers against righties last season. He allowed a .362 wOBA and a 1.81 HR/9 to righties last year. Obviously, Marte doesn't have huge power numbers, but it does show that hitters are making great contact against Milone. Speaking about Marte, he has a pretty small sample size against lefties, but has good numbers in that span. He's 9-for-29 with two home runs against lefties on the year. One good thing about Marte is that he's a switch hitter and has good numbers against righties as well. This is good to note, in case Milone struggles and doesn't last long in the game.