After his time competing for the Alcorn State University baseball team, outfielder Brandon Rembert did not know what to do next. He had recently finished his master’s degree in athletic administration and coaching at Alcorn. He played in 63 games in three seasons.
At the plate, Rembert had a .302 batting average. In 225 at bats, he made 68 hits, 52 runs, 31 RBI and four homeruns.
Throughout his time at Alcorn, Tyrone Brooks would visit the Braves baseball team to tell them about job opportunities in major league baseball. Brooks is the senior director of the Front Office and Field Staff Diversity Pipeline Program for the MLB.
After sending an email to Brooks, Rembert was hired by the Pittsburg Pirates as a Minor League Operations Assistant in February 2022.
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“I reached out to him and … he passed my resume to the Pirates,” Rembert said. “I didn’t even know he did that until after I got hired by the Pirates.”
The job took him to the Dominican Republic in his first year. Staying at the Pirates baseball training complex in the country helped him improve professionally.
“It was definitely a step out of my comfort zone,” Rembert said. “Just seeing that type of baseball and experiencing that culture, I think that was huge.”
As an operations assistant, Rembert has to collect data and videos of players to give them feedback. He also does batting cage and defensive work with coaches and players.
“We have certain technologies that we use to collect data and to be able to provide feedback for players and ultimately help them achieve whatever athletic goals they have,” Rembert said. “I’d go throw B.P. and feed machines … assisting the coaches with that.”
Since he started working for the Pirates, he has improved his communication and time management skills.
“I feel like I’m more outgoing and more confident and be able to communicate better with others in an effective way,” Rembert said. “Professional ball, you have to be pretty regimented because there’s a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot going on.”
Attending Alcorn gave Rembert a support system that gave him the encouragement to succeed. His baseball coach was academically oriented, and his teachers were optimistic about his potential.
“I feel like it was such a family environment there, people wanted to see me win and see me get better,” he said. “My coach was big on not only succeeding on the field but succeeding off the field and that’s one of the reasons why I chose Alcorn.”
This season, Rembert will begin working as a development scout and video assistant. He looks forward to gaining knowledge from veteran MLB scouts.
“My job is scouting players, evaluating players … so we can make the best decisions when it comes Draft time in July,” he said. “I’m really excited to get to see some of the best players in the country and just see how that Draft operation works and do my part to contribute.”
