Awards season is about to put a spotlight on the White Sox, and Will Venable looks like the club’s best bet to land in the BBWAA’s final three for American League Manager of the Year.
That announcement comes Monday beginning at 5 p.m. CT on MLB Network, along with the final three in the other BBWAA award categories. Venable has put together the kind of resume that should keep him in the mix.
His first season in Chicago came with a 102-loss record, but the White Sox closed 2025 with a much better 28-37 mark after the All-Star break. Then came the real jump in 2026: 84 wins, the AL’s sixth seed as the third Wild Card and a run all the way to a fifth game of the AL Division Series before the Guardians ended it.
The results mattered, but so did the way Venable shaped the team. The White Sox built a culture around playing hard for 27 outs every day and competing for one another, not just alongside one another. That identity took hold quickly.
“When it comes to Will Venable, so many people are going to want him to succeed. How he treats people,” Chris Getz said.
“Could be anyone in the building. And I just knew that he was going to be able to get a team, an organization, to pull toward something special.”
Venable said he never tried to measure the progress in a simple wins-and-losses way.
“All I know is that I’ve been very confident this group could make progress,” Venable said. “Truthfully, I didn’t know how to measure that in wins and losses.
All I can say is that I am not surprised in the progress of the organization. That’s something I had confidence in from the beginning.”
The White Sox are set to collect more postseason recognition, too. Rawlings Gold Glove Awards will be announced Sunday, and Chase Meidroth is the team’s lone finalist at second base.
Venable may be the strongest White Sox candidate for a BBWAA honor, but there are other names in the mix. Munetaka Murakami, Sam Antonacci and Tristan Peters have the kind of on-field numbers that could put them among the final three for AL Rookie of the Year.
Miguel Vargas put together a huge season, emerging as one of the game’s most complete players with 33 home runs, 31 doubles, 93 RBIs, 22 stolen bases and 106 runs scored, which ranked second in the AL. That kind of production should bring some down-ballot MVP support, and it also makes him a prime candidate for the Louisville Silver Slugger Award finalists, who will be announced Monday afternoon.
The White Sox also placed six players on the All-MLB ballot: Vargas at third base, Murakami at first, Meidroth at second, Peters in the outfield, Colson Montgomery at shortstop with 31 homers and Grant Taylor among relievers. First- and second-team All-MLB winners will be revealed Wednesday in Las Vegas during the MLB Awards show on MLB Network.
Getz also remains in the spotlight for Executive of the Year, and he said before the start of the 2026 playoffs that Venable was eager to get the White Sox into the postseason.
“To get rewarded in his second year with us is a testament to what he brings to the table and leading this player group,” Getz said of Venable. “But we’ve never talked about championships.
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