The Alumni Spotlight highlights Georgetown Prep alumni making impacts all over the globe. Prep's 5,700 live and work all over the world in every field imaginable. The Alumni Spotlight series captures our graduates' stories and Georgetown Prep's impact on their lives after their four years as a student. To submit a story, email alumni@gprep.org.
My full name is Chandler Brooks Redmond. I'm named after the Hall of Fame's Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, so I guess you could say I was born to play baseball. I am fortunate enough to be the son of Jack and Dawn Redmond. I have one older sister, Kyler, who is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Maryland Farm Bureau. I grew up in Middletown, Maryland, a small country town outside of Frederick.
What have you been up to since graduating from Prep?
Since graduating from Prep, I went on to play baseball, major in mathematics, and minor in chemistry at Gardner-Webb University. I devoted all of my time to perfecting a craft of hitting and chasing my dreams of playing professional baseball. My summers were filled with more baseball playing in various collegiate summer leagues. During my time at Gardner-Webb I was fortunate enough to break the All-Time Homerun Record (50) and Single Season Homerun Record (18). After my 2019 senior campaign, I was selected in the 32nd round (965 overall) of the Major League Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.
What was it like to be drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals?
The Draft was one of the most stressful yet rewarding experiences of my life. I had my mom, dad, fiancé, and grandfather with me during that time and as the draft kept going without my name being called the talking was less and less. The excitement turned into worry and frustration and then during the 30th round a Cardinals scout, TC Calhoun, called me and told me that they were taking a pitcher in the 31st and I would be selected in the 32nd. Of course, no one took a breath until my name popped up on the computer and made it official. My success from college transferred over to the pros in my first year earning me Johnson City Cardinals MVP, Post Season MVP, and my team won the Appalachian League Title. One of the most exciting and awe-striking moments was when Topps, the prominent baseball card company, signed me to a deal and sent me 5,000 baseball cards to sign and send back to them. As a kid I had always dreamed of being on a real baseball card, and here I am at 23 years old seeing it become a reality.
What impact did Prep have on you?
Georgetown Prep gave me one of the wisest tips I have learned. Our class was talking about giving to beggars and homeless people, some were saying that their parents had told them not to give to beggars as a lot might go use that money on drugs or alcohol and not food and water. The teacher told us that it is not up to us what they do with the money. All we can do is be generous and donate to them because you never know when that person we give to might actually need it and use it for good. It's something I've taken with me since. You cannot give to someone expecting a return. You cannot assume someone is going to use your gift wrongly. All you can do is give with an open heart.
What advice would you have for current Prep students?My tip to current Prep students is a quote by Nick Saban, "There are two pains in life. The pain of discipline and the pain of regret. If you can handle the pain of discipline you will never experience the pain of regret." Discipline is a pain right now that is sharp. Waking up early, studying longer, working out every day. The pain of regret is something that will last much longer and will eat away at you. Be disciplined and do the hard things. Devote your time to something specific and perfect it. "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but the jack of all trades is better than a master of none". You have to make sacrifices and be average at other things if you truly want to be great at one thing. I put my hitting and baseball career above everything else, and as a result, I didn't stay out late and party, and I didn't study for long periods of time because those things took away from my passion and my craft. I went to bed at a decent time every night, never staying up past 12:00 to do school work because I knew I needed my sleep to recover from my workouts and prepare me for another hard day of work. Yes, it cost me a couple of A's I probably could have and should have gotten, but people pay a lot of money to people who do one thing extremely well. I was able to get drafted not because I'm necessarily a great overall baseball player. I don't run well, I'm an average fielder, but I devoted all my time in college to hitting, and I worked at perfecting the craft. Hitting for 6-8 hours a week extra on top of 4 hour practices a day. I worked on being a master of hitting, and now they are paying me to play a kid's game. For me my passion was baseball, but it can be applied to anything you want to do. Be the best person in your chemistry class and obtain a scholarship to college and then be the most sought-after chemist in the work field. Be the best writer and perfect the craft of captivating an audience. Find your passion and devote your time to it. Work at it, and when you're not working at it, you're thinking about ways to work at it smarter and harder; then when the time comes to work at it, you implement your new plan. Let your passion consume you and chase it with everything you have.