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Fantasy Baseball Week 13 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers highlight Jon Gray, Taijuan Walker

Fantasy Baseball Week 13 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers highlight Jon Gray, Taijuan Walker

The two-start options are especially lacking this week.

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If you’re into streaming pitchers or simply have a hole to fill in your lineup, Scott White has 10 recommendations for the upcoming scoring period, all rostered in no more than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues. They’re no substitute for some of the universally rostered pitchers, of course, but these are the best you’ll be able to do off the waiver wire.

Check back Sunday for the latest updates.

Sleeper pitchers for Week 13 (June 27-July 3)

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TEX Texas • #22 • Age: 30

Four of Gray’s past five starts have been excellent, including two with double-digit strikeouts, and there’s hope he’s beginning to savor life after Coors Field. The Royals lineup should help with that this week.

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WAS Washington • #40 • Age: 24

Gray is throwing more sliders, missing more bats and keeping the ball in the park more often. The Marlins lineup seemingly lacks the thump to reverse those trends.

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NYM N.Y. Mets • #99 • Age: 29

Walker has always found a way to keep runs off the board without missing a high number of bats, which is what makes his recent uptick in strikeouts so encouraging. A middle-of-the-road matchup like the Rangers shouldn’t steer you away.

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SEA Seattle • #7 • Age: 30

Gonzales can get hit hard when things go wrong, but there’s a reason his final numbers are always respectable. With four quality starts in his past five chances, he’s trustworthy enough against the Athletics’ Triple-A lineup.

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SF San Francisco • #57 • Age: 31

Wood’s latest outing at Atlanta was more death by a thousand paper cuts than a true throttling, and his underlying numbers have been strong all along. Chances are he’ll fare better this week against the worst lineup in baseball.

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BOS Boston • #52 • Age: 30

The xFIP and xERA both suggest steep regression is coming for Wacha, who’s currently sporting a 2.34 ERA. If you’re looking for a two-start pitcher, though, he’s about the best you could do off the waiver wire, mostly because of the one matchup against the Cubs.

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CHC Chi. Cubs • #71 • Age: 27

Matchups

vs. CIN, vs. BOS

Thompson has run about as hot and cold as a pitcher can over his past four starts, following up clearly his worst two with possibly his best two. He’s twice the gamble with two starts on the docket this week, but also twice the reward.

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TOR Toronto • #48 • Age: 32

Stripling has held his own in four starts since rejoining the rotation and also has his best swinging-strike rate in years. If you’re hurting for a two-start hurler, you could do worse than him, though the matchups (Red Sox and Rays) could certainly be better.

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WAS Washington • #32 • Age: 29

Matchups

vs. PIT, vs. MIA

There’s a reason Fedde is available in more than 90 percent of CBS Sports leagues, and it’s because, well, he’s not particularly good. But he flirts with quality starts often enough that he’s worth a second look with matchups as good as this week’s (Pirates and Marlins).

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STL St. Louis • #43 • Age: 27

No one should ever be excited to start Hudson, who’ll be of no help in strikeouts and possibly drag down your team’s WHIP even at his best. But he excels at run prevention with an outlier ground-ball rate, which makes a quality start likely against the Marlins.

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