The Chicago White Sox have named Will Venable of Greenbrae, California their new manager according to Steve Adams of mlbtraderumors.com on Thursday. Venable was an associate manager the last two seasons with the Texas Rangers.
Coaching Career
Since retiring from Major League Baseball as a player in 2016, Venable has stayed involved in baseball with three organizations. With the Chicago Cubs from 2017 to 2020, he was the Cubs special assistant to the president, the first base coach and the third base coach. With the Boston Red Sox from 2021 to 2022, he was the bench coach. Venable managed the Red Sox for seven games as Boston Manager Alex Cora was away from the team (first for his child’s high school graduation, and second because he tested positive for coronavirus), and posted a record of two wins and five losses. Then the last two seasons, Venable was the associate manager for the Texas Rangers.
In 2023, Venable was part of the Rangers team that won the World Series. The Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. This was the first World Series title in the history of the Rangers’s franchise.
Playing Career
Venable was an outfielder for 10 seasons from 2008 to 2016 with the San Diego Padres, Rangers, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was with the Padres from 2018 to 2015. In his second final season of 2015, Venable shared his time with the Padres and Rangers before playing his final season (2016) with the Dodgers.
In 967 games, he batted .249 with 81 home runs and 307 runs batted in. During 3146 plate appearances and 2836 at bats, Venable scored 378 runs, and had 707 hits, 118 doubles, 307 runs batted in, 135 stolen bases, 254 walks, 1146 total bases, 15 sacrifice bunts, 15 sacrifice flies, an on base percentage of .315, and a slugging percentage of .404.
Who does Venable take over from?
Venable takes over from interim manager Grady Sizemore in Chicago. Last season, the White Sox were the worst team in Major League Baseball at 41 wins and 121 losses.
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