In 2016, Andrew Triggs maintained a rather pedestrian 4.31 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP and a 23 percent strikeout rate in 56.1 innings in the majors. That same season, Triggs, pitching out of the bullpen, struggled to the tune of a 5.76 ERA in 17 appearances.
Interestingly enough, in just seven spot-starts for the A’s, Triggs walked one, struck out 23 and put together a shiny, 2.70 ERA. Even though it may be easy to credit his newfound dominance to simply just starting, it is important to note that, Triggs — like many pitchers in the A’s system — developed a cutter.