White Sox to hire Will Venable as manager

CHICAGO – Happy birthday, Will Venable. You are the new manager of the Chicago White Sox.

A source confirmed to MLB.com that Venable, who turned 42 Tuesday, will become the 44th manager in franchise history. The White Sox did not comment on the report.

Venable knows the Chicago baseball scene, having been part of the interview process for the last White Sox managerial opening when Pedro Grifol ultimately was hired prior to the 2023 campaign. He also served as a special assistant to Cubs president Theo Epstein, as well as the first-base coach for the North Siders during the 2018 and ’19 seasons and as their third-base coach in 2020. Venable worked as the Red Sox bench coach during the 2021 and ’22 seasons, before joining the Rangers as the associate manager to Bruce Bochy for the past two years.

Texas won the World Series title in ’23 with Venable in that role. He replaces Grady Sizemore, who finished 13-32 as the team’s interim manager during the ’24 season after taking over for Grifol on Aug. 8. Grifol posted an 89-190 record over one-plus seasons at the helm, including a 28-89 record in 2024.

Sizemore was one of the candidates in consideration for this latest opening in what was a comprehensive search executed by general manager Chris Getz and his staff. The White Sox are coming off a ’24 campaign where they set the single-season Modern Era record (since 1901) of 121 losses and are amid a longer-term rebuild. Getz spoke of wanting someone with a similar vision to co-pilot this growth process toward success, with Venable getting the nod.