We are entering week 10 and things are a tad different this week. Due to my own schedule (namely a weekend away), the week 10 preview is being typed up on a Thursday.

Obviously, this means a fair bit more guess work when it comes to our Two Start Stars. There is a little bonus as a result however.

Each of these pitchers is due to start for their teams on either Monday or Tuesday of week 10 and then the fifth time around on their rotation Saturday or Sunday. So as things currently stand, they are all due to have two starts.

To counter this increased guess work, I am offering up five Two Start Stars. If you need to pick one or more to help you in week 10, I’m confident that at least four of these guys will have two starts (injuries and weather permitting).

So without further ado, let’s dive into this.

Two Start Stars

First up this week is Sean Manaea, the Oakland Athletics starter who seems to have been a bit of a forgotten man after garnering much interest during draft season.

Manaea has a couple of tough week 10 assignments, due to the face the Toronto Blue Jays at home before a trip to the Tampa Bay Rays. Both teams have been scoring runs freely of late, only over-shadowed by the Houston Astros’ offense.

But Manaea’s last two starts have been at the Yankees and Indians where he’s given up just one earned run over 14 innings whilst striking out 17. Walks have been the issue earlier in the season but he’s only walked 2 batters in his last three starts (spanning 19 innings).

The Rays have cut down strikeouts recently and the Blue Jays have also struck out the least in the last week, so this pick is entirely down to believing in Manaea again after some early season struggles

His ownership is on the rise and will continue to trend that way. Now might be the time to pick up Manaea and roll with him for the remainder of the season.

Next up is the Houston Astros’ Mike Fiers, due to face the Kansas City Royals on the road then a home game against the Los Angeles Angels.

Fiers has had significant struggles this year, but Charlie Morton’s injury has opened the door once again for Fiers to stake a claim to stick in the rotation.

The Royals have improved of late, but still struggle to score runs. And the Angels are without Mike Trout who provides about 82% of the Angels offense (that’s an estimate before you start picking on me). The Angels have resorted to starting Shane Robinson in their outfield.

Albert Pujols is still on 599 home runs as of typing so who knows how the veteran will be affected chasing 600 or having just hit it. The Royals are still leading off with Alcides Escobar and his .186 batting average.

Nothing scares me off of starting anyone against either team. Fiers is starting to get a bit better and might be motivated by the challenge of pitching for a job now. This one is more about the match ups but they are nice enough to have significant interest.

Next up is a veteran pitcher who is putting together a very good under-the-radar season; Atlanta Braves’ lefty Jaime Garcia.

Garcia is currently sporting a 3.18 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. His 2-3 W-L record is more to do with the Braves lack of run support with his sub 6 K/9 rate being the biggest downside to his season so far.

Week 10 sees Garcia with two home games against the Philadelphia Phillies and then the New York Mets. The Phillies only mustered 98 runs scored in their 28 games in May and currently holds the worst record in the Majors.

The Mets on the other hand are starting to come apart at the seams, reaching the point that Mr. Met is dishing out abuse to their fans. Garcia has only pitched at his new home ballpark twice in his ten starts so far this year, both were quality starts.

Although the Mets are still scoring runs, arguably their three most dangerous hitters right now (Conforto, Duda and Bruce) are all lefties. Garcia has limited left handed batters to a .208 average so far this year.

Overall, Garcia has a chance to put in an excellent start against the Phillies and round off his week with a good start at the very least against the Mets. He too could see season long ownership shoot up by the time week 11 rolls around.

Finally, we are going in with a joint effort for the fourth and fifth Two Start Stars. That’s because they both are from the Milwaukee Brewers; Junior Guerra and Chase Anderson.

Both are due to have the San Francisco Giants at home to start the week before heading to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a road game at the weekend. So why am I including both?

Well, if you miss out on one, you should be able to expect pretty much duplicate numbers from the other in week 10.

Firstly, Guerra isn’t someone I believed in coming into 2017 and he promptly got hurt on his opening day start. But he’s returned and has looked excellent in his two starts back off the DL.

In those two starts, Guerra has walked 6 batters and only given up 7 hits. He’s got a pretty average strikeout ratio in his limited Major League time but batters aren’t getting many hits off him either.

Anderson on the other hand does strikeout a few more batters and his walk rate is similar to Guerra’s, but he does give up some more hits than his teammate.

In terms of matchups; obviously their first start holds most appeal with the Giants Offense currently putting up less than 3 runs a game on average and hitting just .226 as a team in May.

The Diamondbacks obviously have a hitter friendly ballpark and that could be a problem. But both Anderson and Guerra pitched at home against the Diamondbacks in a recent start and both had excellent outings which will fill them with confidence when taking the mound next weekend.

If I had to pick one, I’d give Guerra the edge over Anderson. But if Guerra has already been snapped up, Anderson will make a nice substitute.

Worthy hitter pick-ups

Following on from last week, I shall continue to offer up a name or two of hitters who can also be of benefit to your fantasy week. As with the Two Start Stars, they are under 50% owned so more available than not.

And I’m going to do something I really wish I never would have to resort to, but I’m condoning picking up Eric Young Jr of the Los Angeles Angels. I actually replaced Randall Grichuk with him in my main league.

Called up to replace Mike Trout after the best player in baseball hit the DL for the first time in his career, the man commonly known as EYJ is a like for like swap. I jest, but he does have use.

It was expected that Ben Revere would get the bulk of starts for the Angels whilst Trout is side-lined, but EYJ started the first game post Trout and promptly stole two bases.

He then batted lead-off in the next game before returning to the 9-hole and hitting a home run. So whilst it’s not clear where he’ll hit, it seems as though he’s going to be an everyday player, maybe sitting once a week.

Now there will most likely be better options in shallower leagues and even deeper leagues. But if like me you’ve been scrambling around for consistent steals, EYJ could be one of the best options available to you.

The Angels are off on Monday but have a 3-game series against the Tigers in Detroit before heading to the Houston Astros for 3 games to end the week. The Tigers pitching has been pretty brutal so there’s plenty of hope EYJ can continue to ride this hot streak.

Just be warned, he’s currently only DH eligible in some formats and has only played 3 games (as of Thursday) in the outfield so won’t gain that eligibility until the Astros series at the earliest.

That’s your lot for this week. Remember to follow The Fantasy Fix on Twitter and you can reach out to me with any questions you have on there too. Until next week, happy fantasying.