White Sox Tab Robin Ventura as Ozzie Guillen’s Replacement

Thursday night, the Chicago White Sox introduced Robin Ventura as the club’s new manager, taking over the role previously held by Ozzie Guillen.  Ventura, who previously held the role of special advisor to the director of player development for the club, had not managed at any professional level prior to his hiring by the White Sox.

Ventura himself admits that he’s “jumped in the deep end”.  The 44-year-old Ventura was just hired in June as an advisor for Buddy Bell, the White Sox director of player development.  Chicago was confident enough in the former player to give Ventura the nod over other, more established candidates including Sandy Alomar Jr., Ryan Sandberg and Joe McEwing.  Though their level of interest in the job wasn’t known, Tony La Russa and Terry Francona were also seen as possible options to replace Guillen.

But, while Ventura’s only other managerial experience came at the high school level, the All-Star third baseman said that he “can swim”.  White Sox general manager Kenny Williams told reporters that he’s had his sights set on Ventura for some time now.  Williams believes Ventura provides the perfect combination of smarts and passion to become a successful manager in the Major Leagues.

Ventura was drafted by the White Sox in the first round of the 1988 amateur draft, making his Major League debut with the club in 1989.  Ventura spent his first 10 seasons in Chicago, winning four gold gloves and representing White Sox in the 1992 All-Star Game.

After spending a decade with the White Sox, Ventura moved on to the New York Mets and Yankees before finishing his career in LA with the Dodgers.  Over his 16 seasons, Ventura put up a career line of .267/.362/.444 with 1885 hits, 294 home runs and 1182 RBI’s.

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