Dylan Dodd provided valuable innings for the Atlanta Braves in their 2-0 loss to the Washington Nationals on Saturday. He delivered three scoreless innings to keep the game close. It’s the second time he delivered a similar stat line this season. It was the third time he’s kept the opponent scoreless in four total trips to the mound. Now that he’s healthy, his time to shine in the Braves’ bullpen could be here. “I said he’s going to be a big part of this, and he is,” manager Walt Weiss said, reiterating a notion from earlier in the season. “He’s really grown too over the last couple of years, you know? He’s a really reliable reliever now.”As alluded to by Weiss, he’s by no means a new, emerging arm. He’s been pitching for this team for parts of four seasons now. He was a starting pitcher for part of 2023. He notably made 28 appearances in 2025. However, that progress is notable when looking at traditional stats and the deeper metrics. Along with the impressive 1.13 ERA and the 0.75 WHIP, he’s striking out more hitters, and the rate of hard contact against him has dropped significantly. Last year, hitters had a hard-hit rate against him of 48%. This year, it’s down to 30.8%. The chase rate is up to 42.9% from 33.6%. In turn, his strikeout rate jumped from 22.1% to 30%. His pitch sequencing has switched up a bit. There is more emphasis on his sinker, which is thrown pretty evenly to righties and lefties. The cutter is now thrown significantly more to righties than to lefties. The latter pitch has gone from hitters slugging .464 against it to .143. Based on where he tends to throw the cutter in the zone, it’s more effective against right-handers. It goes down and away from them as opposed to down and more into lefties.He’s refined his craft further, and the timing of his latest step forward couldn’t be better. When he was activated, part of that flurry of moves also saw fellow left-hander Aaron Bummer released from the roster. He’s out of the picture, leaving a wide-open door for Dodd to fill the gap. Bummer provided an option of a lefty who could cover a couple of innings when needed. That’s what Dodd has shown he can do, too. Like Bummer in previous seasons, left-handers find some success with Dodd. Left-handers have a .641 OPS against, closer to Bummer’s .666 OPS against the same-handed hitters in 2025. However, Dodd is lethal against righties this season so far compared to Bummer last year. He’s held them to a .235 OPS, whereas they had a .743 OPS against Bummer. It's a role they're hoping he can jump into for a reason. They need a proper successor, and he's emerging as someone who could finally be here to stay at the right time. Sign up for our Free Atlanta Braves Newsletter and follow us on Facebook for the latest news Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow