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.

[2] Prior to the move, the Gastonia team had served as a minor league affiliate of both the Rangers and the Montreal Expos.

[3] The Crawdads played in the South Atlantic League as the Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox in their inaugural 1993 season.

[5] 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.

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