JUPITER, Fla. • When Max Schrock was a boy in North Carolina, his favorite player was a little giant. Schrock was 14 when Ty Lawson, the NBA-bound point guard, helped lead the Tar Heels to the 2009 NCAA Tournament championship. Lawson played the game bigger than his size, an approach that inspired Schrock when Schrock went off to be a college athlete … at South Carolina.
Yes, the Tar Heel became a Gamecock, a 5-foot-8 infielder, drafted by the Nationals, later dealt to to the A's. And this winter, infielders Schrock and Yairo Munoz were acquired for Stephen Piscotty, and the new Cards made their arrivals to camp on Monday.