The Chicago White Sox have hired Will Venable as their new manager, the team announced Thursday. Venable now becomes the 44th manager in White Sox franchise history and sixth manager since the start of the 2020 season.
Venable, 42, served the last two seasons as associate manager under Bruce Bochy with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers won the World Series in 2023. Prior to that Venable was a bench coach for the Boston Red Sox for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Venable was also a major-league outfielder for parts of nine seasons, most of which came with the Padres. His playing career ended in 2016.
Venable inherits a White Sox team that this past season set a modern Major League Baseball record with 121 losses, a figure that broke the longstanding record of 120 losses held by the 1962 New York Mets. General manager Chris Getz parted ways with erstwhile manager Pedro Grifol in August, and interim Grady Sizemore guided the team to a 13-32 finish. The White Sox have endured consecutive 100-loss seasons and certainly don't figure to be relevant again any time soon.
Getz has sold off numerous veterans during his relatively brief time at the top of baseball operations and, with Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert still on the roster, he may not be done making such moves. As such, Venable figures to benefit from some level of patience when it comes to results in the standings.
