The Hickory Crawdads are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Hickory, North Carolina, and play their home games at L. P. Frans Stadium, which opened in 1993 and has roughly 4,000 fixed seats.

Established in 1993 as members of the South Atlantic League (SAL), the Crawdads were affiliated with the Chicago White Sox through 1998. They became a farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1999 and won the South Atlantic League championship in 2002 and 2004. Hickory has been affiliated with the Texas Rangers since 2009. The Crawdads won a third SAL championship in 2015. They moved to the High-A East in 2021, but this was renamed the South Atlantic League in 2022. They joined the Carolina League in 2025.

History Several Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams known as the Hickory Rebels played in Hickory, North Carolina, intermittently from 1936 to 1960. Local businessman Don Beaver purchased the Gastonia Rangers and relocated them from Gastonia, North Carolina, to Hickory for the 1993 season. Prior to the move, the Gastonia team had served as a minor-league affiliate of both the Rangers and the Montreal Expos.

Fans were invited to submit suggestions for the team's name. Among the finalists were "Woodchucks", "River Rats", "Valley Cats", and "Hound Dogs". The chosen name, "Crawdads", was selected because of the animals' strength and presence in local waterways.

The Crawdads played in the South Atlantic League (SAL) as the Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox in their inaugural 1993 season. The six-year affiliation regularly had Hickory at or near the bottom of the standings, though they did qualify for the playoffs twice. On both occasions, however, they were eliminated without winning any games. The affiliation ended after the 1998 season with team accumulating a 374–464 record over that period.

Hickory entered into a new affiliation with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1999. The Crawdads reached the postseason in five of ten seasons with Pittsburgh. They won two South Atlantic League championships, the first in 2002 and the second in 2004. The affiliation ended after the 2008 season with Hickory going 705–677 over a span of 10 years.

The Crawdads became an affiliate of the Texas Rangers in 2009. Since then, they reached the SAL finals on two occasions and won the championship in 2015. Following the 2017 season, the Rangers purchased the team from Beaver.

In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of MiLB in 2021, the Crawdads were organized into the High-A East. In 2022, the High-A East became known as the South Atlantic League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

In July 2024, MiLB announced that the Crawdads, while remaining an affiliate of the Texas Rangers, were to be demoted to class Single-A and join the Carolina League in 2025.

Season-by-season results SeasonRegular seasonPostseasonMLB affiliateRecordWin %LeagueDivisionRecordWin %Result 1993 52–88 .371 13th 6th — — — Chicago White Sox 1994 86–54 .614 2nd 1st — 0–2 .000 Won Second Half Northern Division titleLost Northern Division title vs. Hagerstown Suns, 2–0 Chicago White Sox 1995 49–89 .355 14th 7th — — — Chicago White Sox 1996 55–85 .393 14th 6th 31 — — — Chicago White Sox 1997 76–64 .543 4th 2nd 1 0–2 .000 Lost quarterfinals vs. Delmarva Shorebirds, 2–0 Chicago White Sox 1998 56–84 .400 13th 6th — — — Chicago White Sox 1999 70–70 .500 6th 3rd 3–2 .600 Won quarterfinals vs. Macon Braves, 2–0Lost semifinals vs. Augusta GreenJackets, 2–1 Pittsburgh Pirates 2000 75–66 .532 4th (tie) 3rd 17 — — — Pittsburgh Pirates 2001 67–73 .479 10th 5th 25 — — — Pittsburgh Pirates 2002 83–56 .597 1st 1st — 5–2 .714 Won First Half Northern Division titleWon Northern Division title vs. Delmarva Shorebirds, 2–0Won SAL championship vs. Columbus RedStixx, 3–2 Pittsburgh Pirates 2003 82–54 .603 2nd 1st — 1–2 .333 Won First Half Southern Division titleLost Southern Division title vs. Rome Braves, 2–1 Pittsburgh Pirates 2004 85–55 .607 2nd 1st — 5–0 1.000 Won Second Half Northern Division titleWon Northern Division title vs. Charleston Alley Cats, 2–0Won SAL championship vs. Capital City Bombers, 3–0 Pittsburgh Pirates 2005 54–80 .403 15th (tie) 7th (tie) — — — Pittsburgh Pirates 2006 67–70 .489 10th 5th 16 — — — Pittsburgh Pirates 2007 70–66 .515 6th 2nd 12 1–2 .333 Won Second Half Northern Division titleLost Northern Division title vs. West Virginia Power, 2–1 Pittsburgh Pirates 2008 52–87 .374 15th 7th — — — Pittsburgh Pirates 2009 63–76 .453 15th 7th 19 — — — Texas Rangers 2010 75–64 .540 4th (tie) 2nd 9 0–2 .000 Lost Northern Division title vs. Lakewood BlueClaws, 2–0 Texas Rangers 2011 79–58 .577 1st 1st — 0–2 .000 Won First Half Northern Division titleLost Northern Division title vs. Greensboro Grasshoppers, 2–0 Texas Rangers 2012 74–65 .532 5th 3rd 9 — — — Texas Rangers 2013 76–63 .547 5th 3rd — — — Texas Rangers 2014 80–59 .576 5th 3rd — — — Texas Rangers 2015 81–57 .587 3rd 2nd 5–1 .833 Won First Half Northern Division titleWon Northern Division title vs. West Virginia Power, 2–1Won SAL championship vs. Asheville Tourists, 3–0 Texas Rangers 2016 74–66 .529 5th 3rd 9 — — — Texas Rangers 2017 64–76 .457 11th 6th 13 — — — Texas Rangers 2018 70–68 .507 6th (tie) 4th (tie) 17 — — — Texas Rangers 2019 83–52 .615 2nd 2nd 3–3 .500 Won Second Half Northern Division titleWon Northern Division title vs. Delmarva Shorebirds, 2–0Lost SAL championship vs. Lexington Legends, 3–1 Texas Rangers 2020Season cancelled (COVID-19 pandemic) Texas Rangers 2021 46–68 .404 11th 6th 34 — — — Texas Rangers 202266–65.5046th3rd———Texas Rangers202370–55.5602nd1st—0–2.000Won Second Half Southern Division title Lost Southern Division title vs. Greenville Drive 0-2 Texas Rangers202462–70.4709th4th———Texas Rangers202568–62.5234th3rd1———Texas Rangers202682–47.6361st1st—1–2.333Won Second Half Southern Division title Lost Southern Division title vs. Charleston RiverDogs 1-2 Texas RangersTotals2,210–2,165———23–223 league titles, 4 division titles, 10 half division titles—–

+ Franchise totals by affiliationAffiliationRegular seasonPostseasonCompositeRecordWin %RecordWin %RecordWin % Chicago White Sox (1993–1999) 374–464 .446 2 .000 374–468 .444 Pittsburgh Pirates (1999–2008) 705–677 .510 5 .652 720–685 .512 Texas Rangers (2009–present) 1,131–1024 5 1,009–902 All-time 2,210–2,165 11 23–22 2,103–2,055

Mascot Conrad the Crawdad has been the official mascot of the Crawdads since 1993. Conrad, along with his wife Candy, entertain fans during games. The two got engaged on Mother's Day weekend in 2018 and were married in an on-field ceremony on June 24, 2018.

Roster

Awards

Four players and two managers have won South Atlantic League awards in recognition for their performance with the Crawdads. AwardRecipientSeasonMost Valuable Player2000Most Valuable Player2002Most Valuable Player2003Most Valuable Player2011Most Outstanding Prospect2002Manager of the Year1994Manager of the Year2002

Notable alumni

Jim Abbott Jorge Alfaro José Bautista Joe Beimel Matt Capps Joe Crede Rajai Davis Zach Duke Jerad Eickhoff Joey Gallo John Grabow Odubel Herrera Luke Jackson Carlos Lee Nomar Mazara Andrew McCutchen Nate McLouth Nyjer Morgan Rougned Odor Magglio Ordóñez Steve Pearce Martín Pérez Jurickson Profar Aaron Rowand Neil Walker Chris Young

References

External links

Official website Statistics from Baseball-Reference