Venable credits White Sox youth movement for remarkable '26 season

CHICAGO -- Fifteen players made their Major League debut for the compelling story that was the 2026 White Sox.

Six of the team’s 11 walk-off wins were delivered by rookies, with three coming from center fielder Tristan Peters.

Three of those players earned votes in the BBWAA’s American League Rookie of the Year balloting. White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami finished fourth with 39 points, while Peters and left fielder Sam Antonacci also received votes. Tigers’ shortstop Kevin McGonigle was announced as the winner on Monday.

The youth movement was at the core of the White Sox 84-win season and their Wild Card Series victory in Houston, supplying major hope for the future as Chicago’s latest rebuild turns into prime contention.

“Just a special group,” said White Sox manager Will Venable, who spoke via Zoom Tuesday after being named the 2026 AL Manager of the Year. “We talked about it, and heard from so many people afterwards, it was the most fun they had. That’s from people who are just fans of the game, people involved with our team. They just enjoyed watching our team play, enjoyed being around them.

“So, that just really sticks out to me that the way our players went about it was special. The way our fans showed up and engaged with our players was special and what the fans and players created at Rate Field and a lot of the times on the road, with the way the fans showed up, it was just really special.”

Venable became the sixth White Sox manager to be recognized with the BBWAA’s top AL honor, tying the franchise with Cleveland for the most Manager of the Year awards all-time. The 44-year-old Venable set the tone for this team’s identity during his first season at the helm in 2025 -- as has been talked about and written about many times -- and the players ran with Venable’s ideas.

Their growth certainly didn’t stop there. Venable served as the perfect co-pilot to general manager Chris Getz’s vision, and the perfect fit for this talented young crew.

“I feel like Will connects with his players really well,” said super utility player Brooks Baldwin, who missed ‘26 due to internal brace surgery on his right elbow but played for Venable in ‘25. “It’s easy to play [for] a guy that you can go sit down and have a normal day-to-day conversation and not have to be about baseball. It can be about anything.

“When you have a manager you can connect with on a personal level, that’s huge when you go out there on the field. It’s not necessarily a guy you are scared to mess up with. You can go play and be free on the field and to me at least that helps me be able to free up and play the game.”

Key veterans such as Andrew Benintendi, Randal Grichuk, Sean Newcomb and Erick Fedde also helped set the tone for the younger players on the field and in the clubhouse. Those veterans benefited from the fun associated with the team’s excellence following three straight seasons of 100-plus losses.

Shortstop Colson Montgomery, catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, second baseman Chase Meidroth, and reliever-turned-starter Grant Taylor made their big league debuts in ‘25. They had experience, but weren’t exactly seasoned.

Sean Burke, 26, and Davis Martin, 29, sat atop the rotation with 69 combined previous starts entering the ‘26 season. The group developed together, lost together and won together, as it now gets ready for bigger and better things.

“These guys were very disappointed that things ended the way that they did,” said Venable of the White Sox loss to the Guardians in the Division Series in five games, after taking a 2-0 lead in Cleveland. “They are very driven, very motivated already.

“Now they have more fuel to go out and have a really good offseason, which we hope helps us carry that momentum into next spring. … It really starts with the players and their hunger. That’s not something that will go away.”

That hunger was present daily during the special ‘26 White Sox success.

“'Special' is not that special of a word, but I don’t know if there’s a better way to describe it,” Venable said. “It was really fun to be a part of and I feel very grateful to have such a front-row seat to watch it happen.”