AL WILD CARD SERIES: WHITE SOX VS ASTROS

September 29, 2026

Will Venable

Daikin Park

Chicago White Sox

Pregame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right. Who wants to lead off with Will?

Q. What gave you the confidence to hand Hagen Smith the ball to start Game 1?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, very excited about Hagen. As we talked it through, we wanted, number one, the matchups that -- obviously, they're very right-handed up front, but have a big hitter in the two hole that we're concerned about. And so yeah, when you looked at that, plus just the environment, who is going to be able to handle this moment, plus the quality of pitcher that we wanted, Hagen was the choice that we all felt very confident in.

Q. Do you have a starter for Game 2 yet, and if not, what is your plan for Sean Burke going forward?

WILL VENABLE: You know what? We don't have a starter for tomorrow. We're going to see how this one shakes out, and I think that there are some scenarios in which, depending on who we use today, could impact who we start tomorrow, but you can expect Sean Burke, if he doesn't start tomorrow, to be used in a significant role.

Q. What were a couple of those toughest roster decisions that you had to make today?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, number one, on the position player side, Jake Rogers was on the paternity list, and so he's back, and we had made that choice earlier to have Jake over a Romo, which was a decision that we felt like we wanted to keep in line, and that was the right thing to do. So Romo comes off, Rogers is on.

And on the pitching side, it was a really hard decision because we value all these guys and they have all had an incredible impact on our journey here. And so it was a tough decision, but ultimately, it comes down to, in the case of Davis and Richards, the way in which we were going to use them, you know, as you kind of line up the right-handed guys versus, let's say, an Anthony Kay who just pitched but has a role here maybe in a shorter stint, particularly against that lefty pocket, 7 and 2. We thought that that was to our benefit more than holding onto a Richards or Davis who are further down in their types of role we've been using them and might not exist here in this short series.

Q. This is basically your first time managing without the ghost runner at second in extra innings if you get there. Curious how that impacted your preparation because you do like to pinch hit early in games, sometimes especially with the bullpen game. It must have come across your desk how we're going to deal with extra innings now because it could go long. So how does that impact things?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, it's obviously a big difference. You're going to potentially play longer in these games. I'm not sure that that -- as we looked at the strategy of that, but that didn't impact the types of players that we wanted on our roster. So we'll continue to play into extra innings if that happens like we normally would, play late-inning games -- late-inning situations.

So, you know, there's not a ton to unpack for me there other than that we're going to go about our business to do everything that we can. Obviously, you're going to be pushing guys out of the bullpen. We'll continue to have matchups, but I don't think that we're going to withhold moves earlier in the game knowing that we don't have the ghost runners later in the game.

Q. With such a young group is there any speech you need to give, is there any talk you need to have with anybody regarding the different pressures that come with elimination games and that nature?

WILL VENABLE: No, not from a motivational standpoint. These guys have a full understanding of what this is even if they haven't been here before. We've had -- and we've talked about some of the environments and situations that we played in, especially in the second half of this year, going to Wrigley, going to Yankee Stadium, whatever it might be, and playing in those high-leverage moments and experiencing that.

Of course, there's nothing like the playoffs and, that's going to be a different beast all in itself and they will have to experience that for themselves. There's nothing that I can say that can help them feel what it's going to feel like. I think that for me the only messaging is really about the changes in usage, which, you know, these guys are used to being used in different ways both on the pitching side and the hitting side.

Just a quick message about what to expect from a usage standpoint to make sure that we're prepared earlier in the game than we might normally be. A couple other little nuances just to make sure that we're ready for these moments and are doing everything we can to be prepared to be put into the game at an earlier spot than maybe we normally would have 'em during the regular season.

Q. You hitting Colson 9 today, obviously he's had his struggles the past couple months. He talked about how you've been a good shoulder to lean on or a voice when he needs to talk. What have you been saying to him in the past week, two weeks?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, I think, number one, the struggles that players go through I can identify with very well because I felt like my entire career was being in that spot where you just are struggling, and I know what that feels like. So I think that's the first part is to understand -- or at least communicate that I understand what it's like.

At the same time, in Colson's case, I kind of feel like it's a choice on how you view Colson. You can view the fact that he now leads the league all time in strikeouts, or that he, you know, hit 31 homers from the shortstop position, which I'm pretty sure leads Major League Baseball, and has done incredible things to help our team get to this point.

So when I talk to him, it's a combination of both of those things, to make sure that he understands that this is tough and it's going to feel tough, but that myself, the organization, the people that watch him play are viewing the guy that has gone out and hit a bunch of homers, played really good defense, and helped a team make it to the playoffs when no one else expected us to. So those are the types of conversations we're having.

Q. Knowing how much you mix and match, wondering how you mapped out your lineup in response to knowing a bullpen game because it seems like you kind of use it as a typical, you know, attack against righties, but was there extra consideration in terms of pushing your lefties up that you took into account knowing that the matchups can change a lot over the course of nine innings?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, the one thing -- you know, there was a couple different things that we were considering up front. Ultimately decided to keep the first five or six the same. The big one was Meidroth and moving him to the eight hole, I believe, and we have Montgomery seven, which is something that that bottom three has looked a little different. That was more of the response to the bullpen game. If they want to run Blubaugh to, you know, Meidroth, then great. Otherwise, if a lefty comes, we're ready with a guy that we really like against left-handers. So that was the one little response to it. Otherwise, like you mentioned, the same up front.

Q. Off what you said about Colson, how much does your own experience inform how you helped young players break into the big leagues or navigate some of the ups and downs throughout this season?

WILL VENABLE: I think that there's certainly things that I've experienced that I like to pass along and use that perspective to help individual guys, to help our environment be what I think helps bring out the best in guys. So I think leaning on my own experience is something that I've done frequently, and kind of part of how I go about it. I've been in a situation where I've been released, traded, sent down, you know, all the stuff I've experienced, and I know how challenging it can be. I know that it also is dependent on individuals and all the things they have going on in their life, too. So I think, yes, all those things, as I am trying to formulate messaging, trying to help these guys be at their best, considering what it felt like for me is something that I apply to it, for sure.

Q. Yordan is the best hitter right now, what is the plan to stop him?

WILL VENABLE: Yeah, I don't know exactly what the plan is, other than we do have an attack plan in which we know that there's parts of the plate that we want to attack. We also know that there's going to be situations in this game in which we don't want to mess with him at all and potentially will walk him. So we're going to walk that fine line throughout this series and try to do the best that we can with having the understanding of the situation and the information we have, who we have on the mound, game state, all those things will factor in. So, I don't think that there's one way to go about attacking him or not attacking him, we know that he's a real problem in the middle of a really good lineup and that we'll deal with it the best we can when that time comes.

THE MODERATOR: Will, thanks for coming in.

WILL VENABLE: All right, thanks, guys.