Fantasy Baseball Week 7 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers feature Triston McKenzie, Tyler Anderson (2024)

Triston McKenzie has thrown 66 percent of his pitches for strikes in his past two starts compared to 57 percent in his first five, and the results have been much better. There's still plenty of reason to be skeptical of him, but his matchups this week against the Tigers and White Sox may be too inviting to pass up.

You know it's a bad week for streaming pitchers when a guy scheduled for one start at Coors Field can rank this high. But Jon Gray is better equipped than most pitchers to handle that thin-air environment, given all the years he pitched there, and the Rockies offense is absolutely miserable.

Kyle Gibson has been a quality start machine of late, and he's even been getting some whiffs with his sweeper. It's unlikely he's turned over a new leaf at age 36, but he's stable enough to use with decent matchups against the Mets and Brewers.

It feels like we're playing with fire here since Tyler Anderson's xERA, FIP, and xFIP are all nearly 5.00, but he's nonetheless pitched to a 2.23 ERA. If you're set on picking up someone for two starts, his matchups against the Pirates and Royals are pretty good.

You could ask for better matchups than the Astros and Rays, though neither lineup has performed up to expectations so far. Luis Gil has managed to pitch around his many walks to this point and offers a chance at 15 strikeouts or so.

Sean Manaea was originally supposed to be a two-start pitcher in Week 6 (April 27-May 2), but he'll instead line up for two in Week 7, the first being against a bottom-feeder Cardinals offense. The Braves present a tougher matchup in theory, but they've struggled to score runs of late.

The Cardinals entered Sunday ranking second-to-last in runs scored, and Jose Butto has performed well in three of five starts overall, boasting a slider with a whiff rate approaching 60 percent.

Colin Rea has been a steady performer to this point, but his 5.74 xERA hints of trouble ahead. This is purely a volume play in the hope he can defy the odds for another week given his solid matchups against the Royals and Cardinals.

We're firmly in points-league-only territory with these recommendations now given that Logan Allen has made precisely one start that was a positive contribution for categories leagues. But he's kept every game manageable for the Guardians and might be able to steal a win (or two!) against lineups as bad as the Tigers and White Sox.

Patrick Sandoval is coming off a 10-strikeout effort but hasn't pitched well overall, having yet to go six innings in a start. Still, the matchups (Pirates and Royals) are deep enough for you to gamble on him if you're looking to maximize volume in a points league.