Dylan Dodd
The Braves' starting rotation is in a pretty weird spot at the moment. The mortal locks are Spencer Strider, Max Fried, and Charlie Morton. Unless one of them gets hurt during the offseason or in spring training, you are going to see all three of those guys on the Opening Day roster. However, things get a lot more speculative after that.
Assuming a world where the Braves do indeed give the fourth spot in the rotation to Bryce Elder (more on him in a bit), that leaves the fifth spot in the rotation as an open competition amongst the young guns in spring training assuming the Braves don't add another starter. For Dylan Dodd, that is less than good news.
The Braves moving Jared Shuster, Kyle Wright, and Mike Soroka helps Dodd's case going into 2024, but there are still some obstacles in his way. After impressing last spring training, Dodd struggled in limited time in the big leagues in 2023 with a 7.60 ERA in 34.1 innings as he battled arm soreness for a chunk of the season. His numbers in the minor leagues and in the Arizona Fall League weren't much better.
While Dodd can look really impressive when he is on, his inconsistency in 2023 was maddening and complicating matters is that he has some real competition for that last starting spot going into 2024. AJ Smith-Shawver had his ups and downs in his first look at the big leagues, but he clearly has more upside than Dodd given his stuff. Hurston Waldrep just got drafted in the first round and he impressed so much in his pro debut that AA has already said that he is expecting him to be ready sometime next season. After that, you have guys like Allan Winans, Darius Vines, or even the returning Huascar Ynoa that all are on the 40 man roster and who all could get a look.
Is anything certain at the moment? No, but all of the uncertainty in the Braves' rotation right now probably doesn't help Dodd's cause unless he can show that he made real strides this offseason.