CLEVELAND -- Had it worked out the way he wanted, Will Venable would not be in the dugout managing the surprising White Sox in the 2026 MLB postseason. Perhaps by now, he’d be on a different bench, trying to reach the NCAA Final Four instead of the final foursome that is the League Championship Series.
But the fact that Venable is here anyway, in spite of his first sporting preference, only makes you appreciate his skills all the more.
The young Sox have power and swagger and have shocked the baseball world. Yet their best overall athlete is actually their skipper, who at one time was basically the Bo Jackson of the Ivy League.
“I guess maybe it’s ironic,” Venable said, “because my dad [Max] played in the big leagues and I literally grew up in the clubhouse. But from as early as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a basketball player. I can remember vividly being in kindergarten and thinking about the idea of not being in the NBA and crying about it. It’s always been my first love.”
As the White Sox went on their run, video of Venable’s basketball exploits at Princeton has made the rounds -- slashing to the hoop, sinking soft floaters and driving and dashing in traffic.
Venable’s Tigers were a No. 14 seed in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, ousted by a higher-ranked Texas team in the first round despite a 16-point, eight-rebound effort from the 6-foot-3 guard.
“[Venable] was a very smooth basketball player,” said former Princeton baseball teammate Mike Chernoff, now the general manager of the Guardians. “He could dribble, shoot, move around the court, kind of do it all.”
When Venable visited Princeton as a high schooler, he was strictly a basketball recruit. But Max Venable, who played 12 MLB seasons, knew something his son didn't.
“Max sat in my office and said, ‘I think at some point he’s going to want to play baseball, I really do,’” recalled then-Princeton baseball coach Scott Bradley.
When Venable arrived at Princeton in 2001, he focused solely on hoops, averaging 16 minutes per game as a freshman. But after the season, Max's premonition proved prescient. Will walked into Bradley’s office, said he had adjusted to his class load, and asked to give baseball a shot.
Bradley took him to the cage. Venable took five awkward swings and misses, popped up five more, and then began launching line drives.
“I called my assistant,” Bradley said, “and told him Will Venable just took BP and has a chance to be really good.”
In his sophomore basketball season, Venable emerged as a starter. When Princeton’s NIT run ended, Bradley offered to let him rest or fly out immediately to join the baseball team at North Carolina. Venable wanted to play right away. He struck out his first time up, then stepped in next at-bat and lined a single into left-center.
Baseball proved to be his ultimate ticket to the pros, though hoops remained his sanctuary.
“Basketball was where I would go to get away and be happy,” Venable said. “Baseball didn't replace that; baseball just satisfied my competitive itch.”
Venable dropped 21 points against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium as a senior. But as a slasher rather than a pure shooter, NBA doors remained closed. By his senior year at Princeton, he joined future Padres teammate Chris Young as only the second athlete in conference history to earn first-team All-Ivy honors in both basketball and baseball.
MLB scouts questioned whether Venable was “raw,” but Bradley pushed back.
“His instincts were better than anybody else,” Bradley said.
Selected by San Diego in the seventh round of the 2005 Draft, Venable reached the Majors by 2008 despite playing fewer than 600 total baseball games across college and the Minor Leagues. He went on to play nine MLB seasons, compiling roughly 13 Wins Above Replacement.
Not bad for a hoopster at heart.
“They’re such different games,” Venable said. “But the competitive nature is the underlying thing. I’m a competitor at heart.”
That competitive drive carried seamlessly into coaching. After stints with the Cubs, Red Sox and the World Series-winning 2023 Rangers, Venable took over as manager of a White Sox team that had lost 121 games in 2024. Under his leadership, Chicago fought for a playoff spot and won its first postseason series since 2005.
Though the 43-year-old Venable no longer plays pickup hoops to avoid injury -- “My mind thinks that I'm still capable,” he said with a smile, “but my body doesn’t" -- the former slasher has transformed into a premier skipper who might be named AL Manager of the Year next month.
That’s a pretty nice rebound for Venable.