William Dion Venable (born October 29, 1982) is an American professional baseball manager and former outfielder and coach who is the manager of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also was a coach for the Chicago Cubs. He is the son of former MLB outfielder Max Venable and is the older brother of former National Football League player Winston Venable.

Venable played college basketball for Princeton, where he was the second athlete to earn first-team All-Ivy League honors in both baseball and basketball. In the 2005 MLB draft, the Padres selected Venable in the seventh round; he made his major league debut in 2008. Although he broke into MLB as a center fielder, he played mostly as a right fielder after his second season. He finished among the top 10 in the National League in triples four times and in stolen bases twice. He has the most MLB career hits and home runs of any Princeton alumnus.

Venable was born in 1982 in Greenbrae near San Rafael, California at a time when his father Max Venable was an MLB player for the nearby San Francisco Giants. Will grew up traveling around the country with his father and also lived in Japan and the Dominican Republic.

In high school, Will Venable envisioned himself as more likely to be a professional basketball player than baseball player. Prior to his freshman year, his mother, Molly, objected to him quitting baseball to focus on basketball. As both a high school sophomore and a high school junior, Venable was second-team San Francisco Bay Area All-Metro basketball player for San Rafael High School. He was the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) most valuable player in basketball as a freshman, sophomore and junior. As a sophomore, he led his team to the MCAL League Championship. As a senior, he gave up the responsibility of being point forward.

Venable chose to attend Princeton University, not for its academics, but for its tradition of basketball excellence. He respected their tradition of qualifying to participate in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Tournament. During his collegiate career, he was a part of teams that qualified for two postseason tournaments, the 2002 National Invitation Tournament and the 2004 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Princeton recruited him as a basketball player. He did not play baseball as a freshman, but his father had directed him to Scott Bradley, Princeton's baseball coach, during his recruiting visit.

Venable was the second athlete in Ivy League history to be first-team All-Ivy in both basketball and baseball, following fellow Princeton alum and future San Diego Padres teammate and Texas Rangers co-worker Chris Young. Venable played on Ivy League Champion National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship tournament participants in both sports. He played in two postseason tournaments in both sports and earned a B.A. in anthropology, graduating in 2005.

In basketball, he averaged over 10 points and over 30 minutes per game in his 2002–03 sophomore season through his 2004–05 senior season.

Bradley had left the door open for Venable to come take batting practice if he ever had the urge. As a sophomore, at the suggestion of his mother, Venable resumed baseball. He posted modest numbers in his first season, but in 2004, he hit for a .344 batting average, earned All-Ivy honorable mention, and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 15th round of the draft (439th overall). Bradley felt that Major League Baseball scouts undervalued Venable because he did not participate in the Cape Cod League for college baseball players. Thus, instead of signing and giving up his amateur status, Venable returned for his senior season and posted a league leading 9 home runs and second-best .385 batting average while earning All-League honors. Subsequently, the Padres drafted him in the seventh round (215th overall). He was signed by the Padres' Northeast Scouting Director, Jim Bretz.