Professional growth becoming routine for Rembert

Chris Rembert is growing professionally at Pirate City.

This weekend, Rembert, Pittsburgh’s second-round draft pick in July, is headed back home to Pensacola, Florida. He’s been in Bradenton for almost three weeks. After an intense indoctrination into professional baseball at the Pirates Forge high-performance camp, the second baseman is ready for a break from the game.

Although he saw limited action this past season with the Marauders, Rembert is still a rookie by all accounts. So far, so good for the Auburn University alumnus.

“I’m still trying to learn and adapt to a different environment. But I would say it’s going pretty well," Rembert said of his short time being part of the business of baseball. “Overall, I got thrown into the fire at the end of the Marauders’ season. I really didn’t have a chance to establish a routine and figure out what to do.”

18 games as a Bradenton Marauder, while hitting .284 at the tail end of the 2026 Florida State League schedule, familiarized Rembert with the Pirates' way of what it will take to reach PNC Park.

As a member of Team Real Steel, one of three teams the Pirates’ prospects are divided into at Camp Forge, Rembert tells of adapting to a highly structured schedule by the club.

“I usually wake up here around 7 a.m. At 8 o’clock, it’s breakfast. By 9:45 a.m., I get loose. At 10:15 a.m. we start lifting. This week, in the afternoon, we’ll start hitting. Other than that, we mostly have meetings.”

Just how the leadership back in Pittsburgh had hoped, Rembert unequivocally states that his participation in the camp is helping him become a better all-around ballplayer.

“What I’m doing now is preparing my mind and body for a full season. I’m excited to be able to play the game that I love and play my dream job.”

Prior to taking up a brief residency at Pirate City and being drafted by the Pirates, it was Rembert’s two season playing at Auburn University that put him on scouts’ radar. That experience is one that doesn’t take much coaxing for Rembert to reminisce about his time on the Alabama campus.

“Auburn was awesome. I knew that I wanted to go there since Day 1. I didn’t even visit the campus. Coaching there really stood out for me. I talked to plenty of SEC schools and other Division I programs. The personable relationship that they (coaching staff) had with me and my family really stood out. That’s why I committed to the program without even going there.”

In between his freshman and sophomore seasons for the Auburn Tigers, Rembert made a pit stop in the Cape Cod League. For a week, in the summer of 2025, Rembert was a member of the Hyannis Harbor Hawks for five games.

“I was only there for one week,” Rembert recalls. I wanted to get some at-bats before Team USA (USA Baseball Collegiate National Team). It was a great experience. I got to meet a lot of guys that I competed against at Auburn.”

Rembert fills his time away from the game with another favorite pastime of his, bowling. Spending time with family and friends, and his relationship with God, is also highly important to him. Meditating and reading His word is relaxing for Rembert when leaving his growing baseball responsibilities on the field.

The layout of both LECOM Park and all that encompasses Pirate City is routine now for Rembert. He appears confident and relaxed when speaking of adapting to his transition from the collegiate world to one of agents, contracts, and the pressures of progressing up the minor league chain of affiliates.

Before Rembert knows it, time will quickly return him to Pirate City in March for his first professional spring training season. Between what he learned at the high-performance camp and a brief introduction to Single-A ball with the Marauders, Rembert should be ready to impress when camp opens.