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Alcornite Brandon Rembert wants to expose HBCU students to MLB non-player industry

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Frequently,  HBCU students, athletes, faculty, staff, and administrators are unaware of the existence of non-player employment opportunities in the Major League Baseball industry. This leads most university student advisors to steer their academic students and athletes towards becoming baseball players as a singular career path.

However, Alcornite alumni, Brandon Rembert, wants college students, especially HBCU students, to explore non-player job opportunities within the Major League Baseball industry. 

At present, Brandon has been working as a Minor League Baseball Operations Assistant for the Pittsburgh Pirates since February 2022. He was recently promoted to Development Scout/Video Assistant for the Amateur Scouting Department for the Pirates which will take effect in 2024.

Rembert’s résumé reads like a Who’s Who nominee that included being a part of the Alcorn University baseball program from 2019-2021 with a stellar campaign in 2019 where he led the team in its batting average and on base percentage. He was named to the Pre-Season All SWAC First Team in 2020. Prior to his 2021 season, Rembert was named by Black College Nines as the 10th ranked MLB Draft Prospect in HBCU baseball while also being named again to the Pre-Season All SWAC First Team in 2021.

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Brandon Rembert started out with dreams of becoming a Major League Baseball player after he finished playing outfielder during his years at Alcorn State University. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a halt to all sports and a hamstring injury, Rembert was unable to pursue his dream.  He decided instead to take the time during the pandemic to obtain his master’s degree in Athletic Administration & Coaching from Alcorn. This allowed him time to investigate other opportunities in the MLB industry. 

In 2022, Rembert landed his first job with the Pirates as Operations Assistant, utilizing his numerous years of experience as a player and leveraging that experience to work in the MLB. His career started as a young boy playing T-ball. Then it continued as a high school baller where Rembert attended Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida.  He also worked as a head coach with a 9u baseball travel team in 2022.  In his first year with the Pirates, he was based out of the Dominican Republic working with the Dominican Republic Academy. In his second year, he worked with the Pirates low-A affiliate team in Bradenton, Florida.

In a personal interview with the Jackson Advocate,  Rembert expressed, “I want my fellow HBCU students to be aware that there are other jobs in the major leagues that don’t require one to be an active player. There are jobs within the industry that lend itself to academic majors such as sports psychology, accounting, business management, security, sports medicine, sports/broadcast journalism, and public relations that are not often highlighted as students choose their careers during undergraduate and graduate pursuits. 

“I know that when I was a player in high school and even in college, I only had eyes on being a famous baseball player, not being aware that there are other good jobs that often  allow you to travel with the professional teams and still allow you to be close to the action on the field. I feel right now while I’m still a young 25-year-old, I can relate to high school and college students as they are exploring career paths. I would love to talk with these students and give them firsthand accounts and exposure to the opportunity that I have been given with the Pittsburgh Pirates.” 

Rembert is open to speaking with students by request and would love to come to Mississippi at some point in the near future. To contact Brandon Rembert, please email him at brandonrembertbusiness@gmail.com and LinkedIn.

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Author

Dr. Brinda Fuller Willis was raised on a large farm in Attala County, just outside of Kosciusko, Mississippi. She is what some would call a “Double Identical” twin amongst a family of  sixteen siblings. She is a life-long member of the Palestine Missionary Baptist Church where she recited a many long and protracted Easter speeches because her speeches had to match her height; she has been 5’9” inches tall since grammar school.

Brinda graduated from McAdams High School and went on to Holmes Jr. College in Goodman, Mississippi graduating with a Social Science degree. Afterwards she graduated from Mississippi State University with degrees in Social Work and Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling. In 2007, she received a (Ph.D.) in Theology from New Foundations Seminary in Terry, Mississippi.

Once she made the move from Chicago, Milwaukee and Atlanta then back to Mississippi she began writing the “Ask the Twins” advice column with her twin sister, Linda that appeared inside the historic Jackson Advocate Newspaper for several years garnering numerous faithful readers who sought to get answers for questions regarding love, faith, career, disability and education. Her audience ranged from young adults to sage seniors. Eventually, she took a break from the advice column to pursue other interests and obligations with the onset of becoming a grandparent, managing a blues singer and world traveler.

Presently, she is a freelance writer for the Jackson Advocate Newspaper (2001-Present) and the Jackson Free Press (2012-2019). She is a member of the Speakers Bureau with the Mississippi Humanities Council and is the recipient of the Council’s 2019 Educator’s Award. Additionally, she has written for BOOM Jackson Magazine, Our Mississippi Magazine and Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine.

Previously, she was married to Chick Willis, an internationally renowned blues singer with whom she had one daughter, Savannah. Dr. Willis is huge blues music fan and will travel anywhere to hear blues music at festivals, honky tonks and hole-in-the-wall jook joints. She and her twin sister are the owners of Twice As Nice Entertainment, LLC and are the managing agents for Keith Johnson “Prince of the Delta Blues” who is the great nephew of Muddy Waters.

Presently, she lives in Richland, Mississippi and is the proud grandmother of 5-year old, Charlotte Lucille Gray and 18-month old Liam Moberg.

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