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Brandon Michael Crawford (born January 21, 1987) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He spent 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), playing all but his last season for the San Francisco Giants. Crawford played college baseball for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was selected in the fourth round of the 2008 MLB draft by the Giants, and played his final season in 2024 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Internationally, Crawford represents the United States. In the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), he helped win Team USA's first gold medal in a WBC tournament.
He made his MLB debut in 2011. He was the sixth player in MLB history to hit a grand slam in his first MLB game, and the first shortstop to hit a grand slam in an MLB postseason game. He is a three-time All-Star (2015, 2018, and 2021), four-time Gold Glove Award winner (2015–2017, and 2021), two-time Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award winner (2012 and 2016), and won the Silver Slugger Award at shortstop in 2015. Crawford has played the most games at shortstop for the Giants in franchise history, and at the end of the 2022 season was 2nd of all active players in games played at shortstop.
After 13 seasons with the Giants, Crawford signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2024, where he spent one season before announcing his retirement on November 27, 2024.
Crawford attended Foothill High School in Pleasanton, where he was a three-sport athlete: football, basketball, and baseball. He was the starting quarterback for the Foothill Falcons and graduated in the class of 2005.
He helped lead the United States national team to the title in the 2006 International University Sports Federation (FISU) World Championship.
In 2010, Crawford opened the season in Double–A (now with the Richmond Flying Squirrels) and earned an Eastern League mid-season All-Star nod, batting .241/.337/.375 in 79 games before suffering a broken hand in early July, which sidelined Crawford for nearly two months. When he recovered, he was assigned back to San Jose for the remainder of the season. He was ranked the sixth-best prospect in the Giants' organization by Baseball America heading into 2011.
In 2011, Crawford was invited to spring training but was set back by a broken finger suffered in the final week, and started the season in San Jose while he recovered. There he batted .322/.412/.593 in 59 at-bats. With the Triple–A Fresno Grizzlies, Crawford batted .234/.291/.327 in 107 at-bats. In the AFL, he was named to the AFL All-Prospect Team.
On July 31, the Giants optioned Crawford to their Triple-A affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies, after the Giants acquired shortstop Orlando Cabrera. The Giants were 23–18 with Crawford as a starter, but he was hitting only .190. Crawford was recalled in September when MLB rosters expanded to 40 players.
Crawford set career highs in several offensive categories, batting .256 with 21 home runs, 84 RBIs, 33 doubles, and 130 hits. Crawford was the first Giants' shortstop to lead the team in home runs since Bill Dahlen in 1905. He won his first Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award, the first Giant to win both awards in the same year since Barry Bonds in 1997.
April 8, 2016, Crawford hit a tenth inning, walk-off home run off Joe Blanton of the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game in which the Giants had been no-hit through 7 innings and recorded only two hits. On August 8 at Marlins Park, in an 8–7 win over the Miami Marlins that went into extra-innings, Crawford hit a career-high in base hits and singles with seven and five respectively. His seven hits tied the NL record for most total hits in a single game, and was the first time this feat had been done since Rennie Stennett in 1975. The seven hits were also a Giants all-time franchise record. Two days later, Crawford met with Stennett at Marlins Park.
For the 2016 season, Crawford increased his batting average to a career-best .275 in 155 games played. Along with teammate Javier López, Crawford won the Willie Mac Award, which honors the Giants' most inspirational player. He was awarded his second consecutive Gold Glove Award after the season.
For the season, he hit a .254/.325/.394 slash line. He had the slowest baserunning sprint speed of all major league shortstops, at 25.9 feet/second.
In 2018, Crawford was the Giants team winner of the Heart & Hustle Award. Crawford lost out on his fourth straight gold glove to Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed.
In 2019, he batted .228/.304/.350 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs.
In the 2021 regular season, Crawford batted .298(9th in the NL)/.373(10th)/.522 with 79 runs, 24 home runs, 11 stolen bases, and 90 RBIs (all career highs). In 138 games he had 549 at-bats. On defense, he had a .983 fielding percentage (third in the NL), and a 3.76 range factor/game (3rd). At the end of the season, he was third of all active players in games played at shortstop, at 1,409.
In Game 3 of the 2021 NLDS, Crawford made a leaping catch to preserve a crucial 1–0 lead for the Giants, which held to give the Giants a 2–1 series lead.
He won the 2021 National League Gold Glove Award at shortstop. With four Gold Glove Awards he became tied with former first baseman J.T. Snow for third-most in Giants history.
He was named a 2021 Silver Slugger Award finalist. He placed fourth in National League MVP voting.
Nearing the end of the season, speculation began to grow about Crawford’s future, not just within the organization but with regards to a potential retirement as well. In the latter half of a season in which he set offensive career lows, Crawford remained mute about his future within the sport. On October 1, 2023, Crawford played in what many speculated could be his final game for the Giants, a 5-2 loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Prior to the game, Crawford’s four children threw the ceremonial first pitches. Throughout the game, Crawford received standing ovations from fans, and was removed from the game by manager Kai Correa in the 9th inning, allowing him to walk off the field to one final standing ovation from the Giants fans. He went 0–4 that game.
After the season drew to a close, Crawford expressed his desire to remain with the Giants in any capacity, including significantly reduced playing time. In response to the Cardinals offering Crawford a 1-year $2 million dollar contract, his agent Joel Wolfe reached out to the Giants to explore the possibility of Crawford returning to the team. However, President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi declined to guarantee him a roster spot, citing the difficulty in maintaining a club legend as a backup, instead inviting him to training camp as a non-roster invitee. Crawford referred to this as the “nail in the coffin” that led him to pursue other opportunities in the league.
Crawford finished his Giants career with the 7th most games played, 16th most hits, 8th most doubles, 17th most home runs and 12th most RBI in team history.
On November 27, 2024, Crawford announced his retirement from professional baseball.
| + Championships | ||
| National League champion | 2 | 2012, 2014 |
| World Series champion | 2 | 2012, 2014 |
| World Baseball Classic champion | 1 | 2017 |
| + National League statistical leader | ||
| Triples | 1 | 2016 |
Crawford is the brother-in-law of Olympic gymnast Jamie Dantzscher. Crawford's sister Amy is married to pitcher Gerrit Cole. His sister-in-law, Jennifer Pippin (the sister of Crawford's wife), died in 2017 due to an asthma attack.
/ref> In 2022, Crawford was named the recipient of the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award.
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