Will Venable inherited a Chicago White Sox team that had just lost 121 games, the most in the modern era, when he became manager in 2025. Two seasons later, he's the American League Manager of the Year.

"It's just an honor to receive the award," Venable said on the MLB Network. "On behalf of our organization, (which) has worked so hard to make progress. And it really starts with our group of players. ... They're just a really special group that created belief early on in the year and went out and executed the things that they needed to do."

Venable won the Baseball Writers' Association of America award on Tuesday, Nov. 10, collecting 15 of the 30 first-place votes and 111 points. Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays finished second with 98, while Boston's Chad Tracy was third with 47 points.

The White Sox went 84-78 this season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2021. They swept Houston in the Wild Card Series for the franchise's first postseason series win since the 2005 World Series, then lost to Cleveland in five games in the Division Series. The voting for the BBWAA awards is finalized before the playoffs, so that didn't count toward the award, but it's a highlight on Venable's resume.

In Venable's first year, they went 60-102.

That 19-win jump, and then a 24-win jump, puts Venable in rare company. He's only the third manager since 1901 to oversee improvements of 19 or more wins in back-to-back seasons, not counting years shortened by strike or the pandemic.

The other two did it in New York and both are in the Hall of Fame. John McGraw's Giants went from 48 wins in 1902 to 84 in 1903 and 106 in 1904. Miller Huggins' Yankees went from 69 wins in 1925 to 91 in 1926 and 110 in 1927, the season of the Murders' Row lineup.

Venable, 44, already had one trophy from this season. His fellow managers voted him the Sporting News AL Manager of the Year in October. This one, voted on by the writers that cover the sport, is the official award that will be presented in January at the BBWAA dinner in New York.

He's the sixth White Sox manager to win it, joining Tony La Russa (1983), Jeff Torberg (1990), Gene Lamont (1993), Jerry Manuel (2000) and Ozzie Guillen (2005).

How did Will Venable turn the White Sox around?

The White Sox lost 13 of their first 19 games in 2026. Nobody was picturing them in October at that point.

Then they went 78-65 the rest of the way. They spent 96 days in control of first place in the American League Central before slipping at the end.

Some of it was just new talent. Munetaka Murakami came over from Japan on a two-year, $34 million deal and hit 35 home runs. Miguel Vargas, part of a 2024 deadline trade with the Dodgers, broke out with 33 homers.

And the prospects the South Side had been waiting for finally arrived. Colson Montgomery, 24, hit 31 home runs as the starting shortstop. Sam Antonacci, a fifth-round pick in 2024, posted a .766 OPS in his debut season, batted leadoff and split time between second base and left field. Tristan Peters, who the White Sox picked up from Tampa Bay for cash, made the All-Star team in his first full big league season.

The Garrett Crochet trade paid off as well. Chase Meidroth, one of the young players Boston sent back, was worth 4.5 WAR. Braden Montgomery, another piece of that deal, took over right field as a rookie.

And there was the pitching and how Venable handled a staff that never had enough arms. Sean Burke, a 2021 third-round pick, became an ace with a 3.34 ERA. Behind him, Venable used openers creatively and leaned on bulk relievers. Grant Taylor was the White Sox's pitching Swiss Army Knife. He went 7-3 with 10 saves and a 2.25 ERA over 84 innings.

No bullpen in the majors threw more innings, but it held up. One of the worst bullpens in 2025, they were a middle-of the pack unit that kept the White Sox close in 2026.

Who is Will Venable?

Basketball brought Venable to Princeton. He didn't even join the baseball team until his sophomore year, and only because his parents kept telling him not to give it up.

He made first-team All-Ivy in both sports. The only athlete to do it before him was Chris Young, who later became his teammate in San Diego.

Sports run in his family. His father, Max, played 12 seasons in the majors for the Giants, Expos, Reds and Angels between 1979 and 1991. His brother, Winston, played for the Chicago Bears in 2011.

Will Venable spent nine seasons in the big leagues, eight with the Padres. He was a seventh-round pick of San Diego in 2005. In 2013, the lefty-hitting outfielder had his best season. He hit 22 homers and stole 20 bases.

No Princeton graduate has more major league hits or home runs. After he retired, he worked in the Cubs' front office and coached on their staff, then served as Boston's bench coach and Bruce Bochy's associate manager in Texas. He won a World Series ring there in 2023.

The White Sox made him the first Princeton graduate to manage in the majors.

Who else was a finalist for the AL Manager of the Year?

Tracy started the season in Triple-A and got the call-up when the Red Sox shockingly fired Alex Cora on April 25 with the team at 10-17. Boston went 77-58 the rest of the way, with a 15-game winning streak that tied a franchise record from 1946 and a 27-3 run that was the best 30-game stretch in team history. His runner-up prize was security, as the Red Sox signed him to a three-year deal at the end of the season.

Cash, who won the award in 2022 and 2021, led the Rays to the AL East title and the AL pennant, falling to the Brewers in Tampa Bay's second World Series appearance in seven years.

How are votes handled for the AL Manager of the Year?

Two BBWAA members from each American League team's chapter cast ballots, ranking three managers. A first-place vote is worth five points, second three and third one. Ballots are due before the first postseason games are played.