Reports: Will Venable to be named the new Chicago White Sox manager, taking over a team that lost 121 games last season
Will Venable will be named as the new Chicago White Sox manager, according to multiple reports late Tuesday, taking over a team that set a modern MLB record with 121 losses in 2024.
Venable, who turned 42 on Tuesday, spent the last two seasons as the associate manager for the Texas Rangers — where he was responsible for the team’s daily schedule and outfield instruction for a club that won the World Series in 2023.
MLB.com’s Scott Merkin first reported the news. The White Sox have not yet commented.
Before joining the Rangers, Venable worked on coaching staffs with the Cubs (2018-20) and Boston Red Sox (2021-22).
The Cubs originally hired Venable as a special assistant to baseball operations in September 2017. He later spent time as the team’s first-base coach (2018-19) and third-base coach (2020).
Venable served as the bench coach during his time with the Red Sox and managed a total of seven games in manager Alex Cora’s absence.
Venable also had plenty of experience in the dugout as a player, appearing in 967 games during a nine-year major-league career as an outfielder with the San Diego Padres (2008-2015), Rangers (2015) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2016). His father, Max, played parts of 12 seasons in the majors as an outfielder from 1979-91.
Venable follows another former major leaguer, Grady Sizemore, who replaced Pedro Grifol as the Sox manager on an interim basis on Aug. 8.