It is easy to blame manager Will Venable when the Chicago White Sox bullpen blows a six-run lead, like on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
The White Sox had a commanding 10-4 lead over the Braves, and were on course to win the series. The bullpen processed to surrender seven runs in the final two innings and the White Sox lost 11-10.
Venable is the guy who makes the call to the pen, and it is easy to point the finger at the decision maker, rather than the pitchers themselves.
Yeah, mostly on the manager, not all the terrible relievers... https://t.co/Bf86zUKHaY
— Chorizy-E (@chorizy) August 20, 2025
Venable has made his fair share of mistakes when handling the bullpen. That being said, it has still been a really productive group for the White Sox this season, and he pushes the right buttons more often than not.
It is still too early to determine if Venable is a bad bullpen manager because this specific group of relievers struggle mightily when the game is on the line.
The bullpen has the worst ERA in high-leverage situations
After getting hammered in Atlanta, the White Sox's overall bullpen ERA is in the middle of the pack. But if you look closely, it is mostly made up of being effective in low- and medium-leverage situations.
The White Sox have had a few succesful long relievers this season, and their extended outings in uncompetitive ballgames bring down the cumulative bullpen ERA.
When it comes to high-leverage situations, the White Sox are sporting a league-worst 8.96 ERA per FanGraphs. The 1.75 WHIP in those situations is also the worst in baseball. Chicago's bullpen has given up the second-most earned runs in those tight game situations and has the second-highest opponent batting average in high-leverage scenarios.
Rookie Grant Taylor is being counted on to come through in hard times, but his 9.00 ERA in high-leverage situations ranks him 319th in the league per FanGraphs. Steven Wilson is the best ranking of the bunch at No. 182 with a 4.09 ERA.
Brandon Eisert, Jordan Leasure, and Mike Vasil all have ERAs over 5.00 in high-leverage situations. Tyler Gilbert's high-leverage ERA is 11.57!
These are arms that are better at handling medium-leverage situations. The club has the fourth-best ERA in the league in those scenarios.
Outside of Taylor, most of the relievers do not have the stuff to miss many bats. It is a bullpen that relies on weak contact and funky deliveries to deceive hitters to get outs.
Nobody should be surprised. The White Sox have nine (9) main relief options that make a a combined $7,184,000 this season. That's about $800,000 each.
In high-leverage scenarios, you want some pitchers that can blow it by hitters and get those key outs. Those arms are expensive, and the White Sox are not in a stage of their rebuild to acquire those talents yet. Now this is the perfect time to start experimenting with young arms like Peyton Pallette or Wikelman González.
Sox fans can blame Venable all they want, but he does not have pitchers on his roster capable of getting the big outs.