Multiple reports indicate that the Chicago White Sox are hiring Rangers bench coach Will Venable as their new manager
MLB Rumors: Texas Rangers associate manager Will Venable is being hired by the Chicago White Sox as their new manager, per multiple reports. I do not believe there is an official announcement as of yet — it is early in the morning and my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet, plus I’m distracted by people complaining about Nathaniel Lowe — and I believe that it may be that the White Sox can’t announce the deal yet because of a moratorium on announcements during the World Series.
Venable, 42, spent 9 years in the majors as a player from 2008-16, primarily with the San Diego Padres, where he was teammates with Rangers’ president of baseball operations Chris Young from 2008-10. He was a member of the Rangers’ 2015 A.L. West championship team, with the Rangers acquiring him from the Padres in August of that year, and was in a kind-of platoon with Mike Napoli in left field in September of that year, with Napoli starting games in left field against lefthanded pitchers, and being lifted for Venable once the lefty starter was out of the game.
Venable was with the Chicago Cubs as a major league coach from 2018-20, then was the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2021 and 2022. Venable joined Bruce Bochy’s staff when he was hired to be the Rangers’ manager after the 2022 season, and was widely seen to be Bochy’s successor-in-waiting.
Instead, Venable will take the helm of the White Sox, who were the worst team in the history of the two league era of MLB in 2024, putting up a 41-121 record.
The Rangers have now lost two members of a coaching staff that the team expected would return intact for the 2025 season. Besides Venable, the Rangers lost hitting coach Tim Hyers, who was hired by the Atlanta Braves to be their hitting coach earlier this month.