Will Venable’s basketball instincts reshape White Sox after playoff win in Cleveland
Will Venable’s Chicago White Sox celebrated in the clubhouse at Progressive Field on Monday night after a playoff victory over the Cleveland Guardians, a dramatic turn for a club that lost 121 games two seasons ago and is now five wins away from a World Series berth. The team’s resurgence has drawn attention to the manager’s steady presence amid the postseason noise.
Venable’s coaching approach draws directly on his time as a shooting guard at Princeton University from 2001 to 2005, when he was first team All-Ivy League, helped lead Princeton to the NCAA Tournament and once scored 21 points against Duke. He earned All-Ivy honors as a baseball player as well, becoming only the second Princeton athlete to achieve All-Ivy status in both sports. Venable also played eight years in the major leagues, mostly for the San Diego Padres, and has said he once envisioned his future on a basketball court.
Players point to Venable’s consistency as a defining trait. “He’s the same guy every single day,” White Sox designated hitter Andrew Benintendi said about the club’s manager. “He’s even keel. … Being Steady Eddie and showing up every day as the same guy.” Teammates credit that even temperament with helping the clubhouse maintain belief through the turnaround.
Venable has described how Princeton basketball informed his attention to detail. “For me, my time playing basketball, especially at Princeton, helped me understand the importance of attention to detail,” said Venable, who played eight years in the majors, mostly for the San Diego Padres. “The spacing and timing required [in the Princeton offense] helped me as a baseball player understand the importance of every little detail.” The Princeton offense’s emphasis on movement, precise passing and read-and-react decisions is cited as a conceptual bridge to Venable’s managerial style.
That basketball-derived framework has influenced Chicago’s handling of pitching in the postseason. The White Sox have emphasized a shared, matchup-driven approach rather than relying on a single starter to log long innings, focusing on getting the next out. Venable said the crossover extends to how he manages personnel: “That’s carried over into managing,” Venable said. “The details matter: where we position guys, the timing of their pre-pitch movements, timing at the plate, all the very fine details and the precision of the game. I learned that through my time in basketball.”
The manager’s trust in players featured in Monday’s Game 2, when rookie Braden Montgomery’s opposite-field double in the sixth inning gave Chicago the lead and he later scored on a single in a 4-3 victory. Montgomery entered the postseason with a .430 OPS in 103 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers in the regular season, the worst among qualifying hitters from the right side of the plate, and Monday’s hit was his third in 12 postseason plate appearances. “That’s a guy that’s not going to shy away from the moment,” Venable said. “It all culminates into trusting the player and really again putting the nine best guys out there to get the job done.” Montgomery responded: “I respect him so much for having that confidence in me, and that means the world to me,” Montgomery said. “I’d run through a wall for Will.”
Other players described direct, confidence-building interventions from Venable during the season. “[Will] came up to me and told me not to do too much and stay within myself,” catcher Kyle Teel said. “I hit a home run right after he said that. He’s a phenomenal leader. I’m grateful he’s our manager.” Shortstop Colson Montgomery added: “When you see your manager walking around with all of the confidence in the world, why would I not walk around like that too. There’s never a doubt wondering if he believes in me.” After losing 102 games in Venable’s first season as manager in 2025, the team finished 84-78 this season and fell one game short behind the Guardians in the division race.
Venable attributes the club’s improvement to a shared organisational plan and alignment with the front office. “[General manager Chris Getz] was very clear about what he thought [winning] looked like, and as he outlined his plan and his values, I was very much in line with that,” Venable said. “That’s why I ultimately thought it was a good partnership and that this was going to be a place where we could help the organization move forward. … I was on board with the vision and wanted to do my part to help him.”
Chicago can seal its progress to the American League Championship Series on Wednesday if it beats the Guardians in Chicago. A win in the upcoming game would move the White Sox closer to the World Series by reducing the number of remaining victories required to reach that stage.