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.

He grew up a San Francisco Giants fan, and his family purchased season tickets and a commemorative brick in Willie Mays Plaza outside AT&T Park when the ballpark opened in 2000.

[4] Crawford attended Foothill High School in Pleasanton, where he was a three-sport athlete: football, basketball, and baseball.

He played baseball for the UCLA Bruins from 2006 to 2008 and helped lead the team to the NCAA Regionals in three consecutive seasons,[3] the first time in school history.

He helped lead the United States national team to the title in the 2006 International University Sports Federation (FISU) World Championship.

[10] In May, Crawford was promoted to the Double-A Connecticut Defenders, where he spent the rest of the season, batting .258/.294/.365 with four home runs in 108 games.

[12] 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.

[14] The Giants promoted Crawford to the major leagues for the first time on May 26, 2011, following injuries to Buster Posey, Mike Fontenot, and Darren Ford.

He joined Bobby Bonds and Brian Dallimore as the only Giants whose first career MLB hit was a grand slam;[16] he also became the sixth player in MLB history and the second player in Giants history along with Bobby Bonds to hit a grand slam in his first game.

On July 20, Crawford hit his second career grand slam and drove in 5 runs as the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7–2.

On April 13, Crawford hit a tenth inning, walk-off home run against Rex Brothers of the Colorado Rockies.

In Game 7, Crawford drove in the second run for the Giants with a sacrifice fly and, along with second baseman Joe Panik, turned a critical double-play in the third inning.

[28] On May 16, Crawford hit his third career grand slam (fourth including the postseason) and drove in a career-high six runs against Mike Leake of the Cincinnati Reds.

[31] On July 6, Crawford was voted by his fellow Major League players as a reserve for the 2015 MLB All-Star Game.

On September 24 at Petco Park, Crawford hit his twentieth home run of the season off of Ian Kennedy, making him the fourth Giants shortstop in franchise history to reach the milestone, after Rich Aurilia, Alvin Dark, and Travis Jackson.

[33] Crawford set career highs in several offensive categories, batting .256 with 21 home runs, 84 RBIs, 33 doubles, and 130 hits.

Along with teammate Javier López, Crawford won the Willie Mac Award, which honors the Giants' most inspirational player.

Crawford became the first Giants player since Steve Decker in April 1991 to hit a walk-off solo homer to win a 1–0 game.

[46] Batting .300 with ten home runs and 39 RBIs, Crawford was named the starting shortstop for the 2018 MLB All-Star Game.

[50] Crawford lost out on his fourth straight gold glove to Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed.

[1] Following the offseason departure of fellow infielder Brandon Belt, Crawford became the longest tenured member of the Giants.

[57] He made his first major-league appearance as a pitcher with a scoreless ninth inning of relief in a 13–3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on June 11.

[60] On July 7th, he hit a two-run home run off Austin Gomber of the Colorado Rockies, moving him into 6th place on the Giants’ San Francisco-era RBI leaderboard.

After the season drew to a close, Crawford expressed his desire to remain with the Giants in any capacity, including significantly reduced playing time.

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 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.