Will

Venable

“We are not going to have someone designated for that role,” Venable said at spring training on Thursday. “We are going to use it to get guys off their feet, to be able to match up defensively, and to kind of leave that open as a way to do all those things.” The White Sox don’t have a player who profiles best as a designated hitter but have plenty of outfielders, so this feels like a good way to ensure that four of Mike Tauchman, Andrew Benintendi, Luis Robert Jr., Austin Slater, and Michael A. Taylor can all get consistent at-bats.

Venable will be the 44th manager in White Sox franchise history. Venable played nine seasons in MLB, splitting time between the Padres, Rangers, and Dodgers before retiring after the 2016 season. He then served as a special assistant to Cubs president Theo Epstein, as well as a minor league first-base coach from 2018-2020. He then worked as the Red Sox bench coach during the 2021 and ’22 seasons and was an associate manager for the Rangers for the past two years. The Princeton graduate was involved in managerial interviews last season but decided to go back to Texas and will now take over his own team with plenty of work to be done. “Will is widely recognized as one of the premium managerial candidates within the game, and we are very excited to bring him into our organization as our new manager,” said general manager Chris Getz.

This is Venable’s first job managing a major league team. He interviewed for the White Sox job last year when Pedro Grifol was hired. Venable previously worked as a first and third base coach with the Cubs for three years and as the Red Sox bench coach for two years before joining the Rangers as the associate manager for the past two years. Venable was beside manager Bruce Bochy as the Rangers won the World Series in 2023. He’ll replace Grady Sizemore, who was 13-32 as Chicago’s interim manager after Grifol, who was 89-190 in a season and a half, was fired on August eighth. The White Sox are in a long-term rebuild after posting the most losses in a single-season in the Modern Era (since 1901) with 121 losses in 2024.

For Venable, it simply came down to his level of comfort with the Rangers. “I talked to them very briefly, but that was at the point where I already had made the decision that I was staying here,” Venable told the New York Post on Friday. Venable has no previous managerial experience, though he’s also been on the coaching staff for the Cubs and Red Sox since ending his playing career. New Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is expected to consider a wide range of candidates for manager, though many are speculating that Craig Counsell will be the favorite for the job after his contract with the Brewers expires at the end of October.

Venable served as bench coach for the Red Sox over the last two years, but now the 40-year-old former MLB outfielder will be a part of Bruce Bochy’s staff in Texas.

The Red Sox have been dealing with a potential COVID-19 outbreak over the last few days as both Jarren Duran and J.D. Martinez were placed on the COVID-19 injured list after feeling sick. The team is still waiting for their test results, but they announced that Venable has tested positive and will be away from the team.

Venable was floated as a candidate for the managerial opening in Boston last month, before the club opted to bring back Alex Cora. He’ll now essentially act as Cora’s right-hand man. The 38-year-old former major league outfielder -- and graduate of Princeton University -- served as the Cubs’ third base coach in 2020.

Venable joined the Cubs’ front office in 2017 after retiring as a player and then served as the team’s first base coach in 2018 and 2019 before shifting to third base coaching duties in 2020. The 37-year-old graduate of Princeton University should eventually get a chance to manage somewhere, even if he doesn’t ultimately land the job in Boston. Heyman notes that Alex Cora “has been viewed as the favorite” coming off his one-year suspension related to the Astros’ sign-stealing operation from 2017. Dodgers coach George Lombard and Pirates coach Don Kelly are among the other known managerial candidates for the Red Sox.

Venable hasn’t started a game since last Friday due to soreness in his throwing shoulder. If he wakes up without lingering discomfort Tuesday, he could return to the lineup.

Venable has been nursing a back injury of late that’s kept him from starting for over a week. It’s not clear when he might be ready to return to the lineup.