The Pirates don't usually make headlines for outspending slot value, but that's exactly what happened with their supplemental second-round pick. Pittsburgh signed Auburn infielder Chris Rembert for $2.4 million, blowing past the assigned slot value of $1,938,100 for pick No. 51, according to Jim Callis.
Jim Callis broke down the bonus number and the scouting profile that got the Pirates to pay up.
That's a real overpay in draft economics terms, north of $460,000 above slot, and it tells you how much the front office believes in the bat. Rembert, a Pensacola Catholic product, just wrapped a 2026 season at Auburn where he hit.343 with an.858 OPS across 58 games, racking up 80 hits, 4 homers and 46 RBIs. His 2025 numbers were even louder, a.344 average and a 1.022 OPS with 10 homers.
The scouting buzz has always centered on his hands. Rembert is regularly cited as having some of the best bat speed in the entire draft class, paired with an advanced, disciplined approach that lets him work gap to gap instead of chasing. The Howie Kendrick comparisons floating around aren't about power, they're about that same knack for barreling balls up consistently from the middle of the diamond.
Where the profile gets murkier is projecting the ceiling. Scouts have long wondered whether Rembert lifts the ball enough to turn that bat speed into consistent over-the-fence power, since his swing tends to produce line drives and grounders rather than loft. Defensively he's settled in at second base after some question marks about whether he'd end up in shortstop or even left field, with an average arm and average speed that fit the keystone better than the left side of the infield.
For a Pirates org that's taken heat for pinching pennies at the big league level, ponying up above slot for a college bat with this kind of hit tool is a small signal that the draft is where they're still willing to spend. Whether Rembert profiles as a table-setter, a doubles machine, or something more depends on how much of that bat speed shows up in games once he starts facing pro pitching this summer.