Venable was a two-sport star at Princeton University, playing basketball and baseball. Now, he says he is ready for the immense challenge as he carries on his family’s baseball legacy.

Venable, a former outfielder, played for nine seasons in the majors — part of them with the San Diego Padres under Manager Bud Black. Venable said becoming an MLB manager himself did not start out as a career goal for him.

“It really wasn’t, no. It wasn’t something I thought about,” Venable said. “I don’t think it was till the end of my playing career, really, that I even understood what a Major League manager did, you know, watching Buddy Black do his thing, and understanding the skillset that was involved, and after I got done playing, I knew that I wanted to coach, and got the opportunity to be coaching the players.”

After retiring as a player, Venable spent three seasons as a coach and front office executive with the Cubs, joining them as a special assistant to baseball operations in September 2017, before becoming their first base coach in 2018 and 2019 and the bench coach in 2020. The Cubs made the playoffs in 2018 and 2020 while Venable was on the staff. 

Before this season, Venable spent the past two seasons as the associate manager for the Texas Rangers under Bruce Bochy. In Venable’s first season with the Rangers, they won the World Series in 2023.

But as a skipper, this season with the White Sox is Venable’s first time.

Venable said having been in situations as a player where communication with the manager wasn’t always ideal, he is determined to make communication key on his watch.

“Maybe when a manager wasn’t as transparent with me as I would have liked, or maybe something I the schedule — like whatever it might be, I’m always thinking of it from a player’s perspective,” he said, “and I want guys to know exactly where they stand — even if it’s maybe not what they want to  hear, but at least they know.”

Venable joined the White Sox on the heels of a disastrous season. In 2024, the White Sox set the modern-era record for most losses in a season, finishing 41-121.

But Venable said such challenges never made him hesitate to take the job.

“I had a lot of conversations with people about that, and to me, in my mind, it was never a problem, you know? I view this as a really awesome opportunity to be part of the foundation that’s going to help push this organization to where it’s been, and so I never hesitated in that regard,” he said. “It certainly came up — and maybe I’m just naïve — but I was excited about the opportunity.”

Venable’s father, Max, played 12 seasons with Major League Baseball and was a minor league coach. Venable’s brother, Winston, excelled in football — and played for the Bears in 2011.

“My dad set the tone, and his father too, with, you know, just the kind of people that we want to be, and just learning from my father the values that are important to, you know, be a good person, and certainly, you can take it another level and talk about surviving in this game and how people are going to remember you,” Venable said. “I see people all the time that played with my dad, and no one says anything about the kind of player he was, you know? They talk about the kind of person he was.”

Venable said he wants the same for himself.