MLB Fantasy: Two-Start Pitchers for Week Ten—Hughes, Strasburg

The much anticipated arrival of Stephen Strasburg is here. He debuts Tuesday at home against the Pirates, a great way to build his confidence (like he needs more of that). He has been dominating Double-A and Triple-A this season. Look for a few struggles early on, but since his second start is against the Indians, he might get off to a fast start.

Inter-league play returns this weekend, so pay attention to American League designated hitters taking a seat on the bench in National League parks and some National League hitters getting extra at bats as designated hitters if they are playing in American League parks.

Also, all 30 Major League teams play six games this week and 18 get seven games.

Now, the projected 2-start pitchers for this week. For those of you in leagues who require you to set your lineup at the beginning of the week, these are guys you should strongly consider:

American League BAL Brad Bergesen BOS Daisuke Matsuzaka , Tim Wakefield CWS Gavin Floyd CLE Fausto Carmona , David Huff DET Armando Galarraga KC Kyle Davies LAA Scott Kazmir , Jered Weaver MIN Kevin Slowey NYY Phil Hughes OAK Ben Sheets , Vin Mazzaro SEA Cliff Lee , Felix Hernandez TB Jeff Niemann TEX Scott Feldman , Colby Lewis TOR Brian Tallet

National League ARI Dan Haren , Edwin Jackson ATL Derek Lowe , Kris Medlen CHC Carlos Silva , Ted Lilly CIN Johnny Cueto , Sam LeCure COL Jason Hammel , Jeff Francis FLA Chris Volstad HOU Wandy Rodriguez , Brian Moehler LAD Carlos Monasterios , Hiroki Kuroda MIL Yovani Gallardo NYM Mike Pelfrey PHI Cole Hamels , Kyle Kendrick PIT Dana Eveland, Jeff Karstens SD Wade LeBlanc, Chris Richard SF Barry Zito , Matt Cain STL P.J. Walters , Chris Carpenter WAS Stephen Strasburg

Rick’s Picks
Five best bets for double-start pitchers this week

1. Phil Hughes is starting to come of age. He gets two cupcakes (at BAL, vs. HOU) to mow down and a huge lineup to back him up. This kid is a must play.

2. Matt Cain is pitching well again this season and he’s even getting run support. Even though he gets a hot Reds offense that seems to be cooling a bit (at CIN), he finishes with the weaklings from across the Bay (vs OAK).

3. Yovani Gallardo gets a crummy team (CHC) and a decent team (TEX) at home this week. He’s quietly having a great season that should only get better with two wins this week.

4. Carlos Silva is pitching better than he ever has, prompting some to wonder if he has made a deal with the devil. With the opponents he’s facing this week (at PIT, vs. CWS), he won’t need much extra help.

5. Stephen Strasburg is about to make his Major League debut and the spotlight will shine brightly on the kid. The only thing that will hold him back this week will be the pitch counts because the competition (vs. PIT, at CLE) likely won’t.

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Rick Milleman is the head fantasy baseball contributor at DraftBuddy.com . Check his annual player projections included in the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy to help draft your championship team.