MLB GPP Tournament Picks: 8-4-17

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

Laugh all you want about this Jason Hammel selection. Clearly, his numbers are not good this year, and Vegas is giving the Mariners a decent run total. First off, Hammel is coming off of a good start against the Red Sox, whose offense has started a resurgence lately. Hammel also has good numbers against lefties on the year with a .295 wOBA allowed. For the most part, this Mariners team can throw a ton of lefties in with guys like Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager. The only real threat from the right side of the plate is Nelson Cruz. Cruz, though, has 22 home runs on the season, which is good, but just not near where you would expect. Hammel is just allowing a 0.73 HR/9 in the second half this season. Now, I am not psychotic and really think that Hammel is going to put up a 35-40 point outing on DraftKings, but I do feel he could get in the mid 20's. If that happens, with the low ownership and price tag, it will really make your GPP lineup stand out over most.

Top GPP Hitters

Welp, Freddie Freeman at third base on FanDuel is not happening at the moment (1B/3B on DraftKings). However, he's still a beast at the plate and a viable option against a lefty. Despite how well he's performed, there's a chance Freeman gets lower than expected ownership rate due to the lefty-lefty matchup tonight. I don't have much faith in Adam Conley, despite his 1.54 ERA on the road. Conley has also looked good since his return to the majors with a 1.74 ERA in three starts. However, Conley did allow two home runs last start and is almost averaging seven hits per game. Freeman has seen Conley well in his short numbers in his career, going 4-for-9. Freeman also has good numbers against lefties, hitting five home runs in just 65 at-bats. He has shown more power away from his new Atlanta home, but still has a robust .438 wOBA at home.

Staying in the same park, Marcell Ozuna is my next guy to target. Ozuna is putting up great numbers against righties on the year, hitting 23 home runs against righties. Over his past ten games, Ozuna has a .413 wOBA while hitting two home runs in that span. Ozuna has been better at home, but his .212 ISO is still pretty impressive. R.A. Dickey is starting for the Braves, and as we all know, right handed betters on average have better numbers against right handed knuckleballers. Dickey is allowing a .347 wOBA to righties on the year. It might be a risky play, considering Dickey is coming off of a good start where he gave up zero runs in seven innings. What I like about Dickey though is that he has a bunch of blow up potential and has seen a good amount of starts where he's allowed four or more runs per game.

I'm going to be honest with you, I'd never thought that I would ever have Andrelton Simmons in this article. EVER. As he came up with the Braves, he was touted as a defensive specialist...and one of the best. But somehow Simmons has added some pop to his bat in 2017. He's hitting .303 (up close to 40 points from his career average) with 11 home runs. In the second half, Simmons is hitting .375. Although Simmons has a better wOBA on the road than at home, he has shown more power with a .179 ISO and nine of his homers coming at Angels Stadium. Jharel Cotton has allowed nine runs over his past two games and can really get hit hard at times. He is allowing a .350 wOBA to righties on the year. It's odd, as Cotton has an ERA over seven at home, but an under four ERA on the road. Lucky for Simmons, Angels Stadium does play similar to Oakland in terms of a huge outfield, so the advantage looks like it might be in Simmons' favor.

There's no denying that the entire Blue Jays team has been a complete disappointment all season long. As for Jose Bautista, he's taken the reins of lead-off and that really hasn't done too great. But I'm only recommending him for one game here! Bautista has been much better on the road, clocking ten of his 16 home runs on the road. He also has a much better wOBA of .335 on the road compared to .278 at home this year. Bautista has also done much better against righties this year, compiling 14 home runs against them. Brad Peacock has had a good season thus far, but he still could have some troubles against this Blue Jays team. It's been rare, but when Peacock has struggled, it's been against teams with a big presence of right handed bats, like the Angels and Twins. I may be a naysayer on Peacock, like I was on Alex Wood early on in the year, but Peacock really has never shown any glimpse of elite pitching before. It's just something I don't think he's going to be able to sustain.