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Former CACC baseball standout rising for MLB team

No matter where Brandon Rembert works in the sport he loves, he just wants to add value to the team.

The Pensacola, Fla. native and former Coastal Alabama Community College (Brewton) and Alcorn State baseball standout has been working as a minor league operations assistant with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the last two years. He’s soon to be transitioning into the organization’s Amateur Scouting Department next year as a video scout/development scout.

Rembert’s first year was based out of the Dominican Republic in 2022. This past year, he was based out of Bradenton, Fla., working with a low A baseball team.

His duties were to get videos and data collection to help players get better, help with cage work to throw batting practice; field work, including defense work; and administrative duties, among others.

“It was good to have that exposure to different departments like that,” Rembert said.

In his new role, Rembert said he’ll be scouting and helping get videos of prospects.

“My priority will be getting some slow motion video of mechanics so our data team and (research and development) team can make the best picks for the draft coming up in 2024.”

Rembert said he’s looking forward to the new position.

“It’s definitely cool, especially coming from (junior college) and then playing at Division 1 (at Alcorn State), and then working in the MLB,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to play in the MLB, but never got the chance. But this is the next best thing. I didn’t achieve my dream of playing in the league, but I love it. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a lot of sacrifice, missing birthdays and weddings.”

Before his tenure began with the Pirates, Rembert was a top MLK Draft prospect out of Alcorn State. After hurting his hamstring, he unfortunately, lost all of the chance to get drafted and signing with a team.

He encouraged younger players to have a backup plan or second avenue to go down in case adversity rears its head.

“Everyone wants to make it to the big leagues or the NFL,” Rembert said. “Having the knowledge, saying ‘hey, I can still be a professional baseballer.’ It may look a little different. Having that second avenue to pivot to and knowledge of that is important.

“There are a lot of moving parts within the operation,” he added. “You could still be involved at the major league level in different departments.”

Getting to this level in an organization, Rembert said he wouldn’t be here without people he’s looked up to, including MLB chief diversity officer Tyrone Brooks and the late and former CACC baseball coach Darrell Blevins.

“He (Brooks) used to come speak to our school when I was at Alcorn State,” Rembert said. “With me being naïve, I didn’t listen as much as I should have, but I kept in touch with him. I reached out to see what opportunities to play baseball. He used to work for the Pirates. I didn’t know he passed my resume even after a month I got hired (with the Pirates). It was a kind of a blessing in disguise.”

On Blevins, Rembert said the CACC coach gave him an opportunity.

“He helped me not only as a player, but as a person as well, and played a part in my journey to being where I am today,” he said. “I know he would be proud of me.”

When asked what his career goal would be, Rembert said he’s still trying to figure it out.

“Obviously, I want to be in baseball, but I don’t know specifically what role,” he said. “I just want to add value. I want to stay in scouting and I like evaluating players and traveling. I do like scouting, I feel like as a college player, I was not knowingly scouting the other team. I was looking at the best players; asking what was this pitcher was good at. It’s something I’ve always done, but now it’s more of a professional sense, evaluating professional tools.”

Rembert encouraged the current CACC athletes that there are opportunities to work inside of baseball without having to play the game at the professional level.

“I never thought I’d have an opportunity to be in professional baseball without playing,” Rembert said. “Start building relationships with people. Use your time in school to build relationships. Maximize your time in school, and be a student in the game, and in the classroom because you never know where you can end up.”