Will Venable will not receive the AL Manager of the Year votes he deserves

A hot September has ignited hope that the Chicago White Sox can avoid losing 100 games for a third consecutive season.

The team has been playing better baseball since the All-Star break and White Sox fans are as optimistic right now as they have been in a long time. Despite still having over 90 losses, an exciting group of rookies is providing hope that White Sox baseball can turn the corner in the near future.

It is actually fun to watch the White Sox these days. The club's record trending in the right direction and good clubhouse energy has some thinking that manager Will Venable deserves AL Manager of the Year votes.

Venable definitely deserves praise for having the White Sox where they are in 2025. One of many reasons the White Sox won just 41 games in 2024 was the poor leadership of former manager Pedro Grifol.

Will Venable's success in 2025

It is amazing how much a team can improve with competent leadership. I think Venable has met the six standards I was holding him to when the season started. If I had a vote for AL Manager of the Year, he would get mine because of that.

The clubhouse culture is good, and the players have a winning mentality. The White Sox look prepared for every game. Venable seems to have established a vision for what winning baseball looks like at Rate Field. The team is hitting home runs with a lineup that values getting on base. The pitching has been solid, and on most nights, the team is playing clean defense.

Venable still has to grow in managing the bullpen, but that unit has been poor in high-leverage situations. That speaks more to the talent on the roster than Venable's competency as a manager. The biggest reason to be bullish about Venable is that players are getting better under his guidance.

All this being said, I don't expect Will Venable to be included on many ballots for AL Manager of the Year.

Venable won't get enough votes

Voters outside of the Chicago market and the AL Central will probably look at what Venable has done with the White Sox and still not be impressed.

In theory, the team had no place to go but up. It's not hard to improve when you finish a season 41-121, although I would argue that wasn't a guarantee considering the Sox made no major offseason additions to upgrade the roster.

If the White Sox won 70-75 games, some voters would throw Venable a vote. But winning, say, 63 games is still an awful record.

BBWAA voters won't see a 63-99 team and respect what's going on at 35th and Shields.

I fear that voters will take the glass half empty perspective and think of Venable as being unworthy of consideration. I like to call that "out-of-town stupid."

White Sox fans know what a great job Will Venable has done

Close observers will know that the 2025 season has been much more for the White Sox than a traditional last place finish.

Chicago has developed a team that is young, exciting, and plays hard. This core that could flirt with being competitive in 2026 if some solid offseason moves are made.

The arrow is pointing up, and Venable deserves a lot of credit for that. He deserves more than a few votes for AL Manager of the Year, but White Sox fans will probably be disappointed in the outcome.