The following list is of the top 100 pitchers in career strikeouts in Major League Baseball. In baseball, a strikeout occurs when the batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. Strikeouts are associated with dominance on the part of the pitcher and failure on the part of the batter.
Nolan Ryan[1][2][3] has the most career strikeouts in Major League Baseball. During a record 27-year career, he struck out 5,714 batters. The American League record is held by Roger Clemens[4] (4,167 strikeouts),[5] while in the National League, the record is 4,000 by Steve Carlton.[6][7]
The parentheses adjacent to an active player denote the number of strikeouts in the current season.
† | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
---|---|
Bold | Denotes active player (with current season strikeouts shown). |
A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.
Rank | Player | K |
---|---|---|
1 | Nolan Ryan † | 5,714 |
2 | Randy Johnson † | 4,875 |
3 | Roger Clemens | 4,672 |
4 | Steve Carlton † | 4,136 |
5 | Bert Blyleven † | 3,701 |
6 | Tom Seaver † | 3,640 |
7 | Don Sutton † | 3,574 |
8 | Gaylord Perry † | 3,534 |
9 | Walter Johnson † | 3,508 |
10 | Greg Maddux † | 3,371 |
11 | Phil Niekro † | 3,342 |
12 | Justin Verlander (185) | 3,198 |
13 | Max Scherzer (173) | 3,193 |
14 | Ferguson Jenkins † | 3,192 |
15 | Pedro Martínez † | 3,154 |
16 | Bob Gibson † | 3,117 |
17 | Curt Schilling | 3,116 |
18 | CC Sabathia | 3,093 |
19 | John Smoltz † | 3,084 |
20 | Zack Greinke (73) | 2,882 |
21 | Jim Bunning † | 2,855 |
22 | Mickey Lolich | 2,832 |
23 | Mike Mussina † | 2,813 |
24 | Clayton Kershaw (137) | 2,807 |
25 | Cy Young † | 2,803 |
26 | Frank Tanana | 2,773 |
27 | David Cone | 2,668 |
28 | Chuck Finley | 2,610 |
29 | Tom Glavine † | 2,607 |
30 | Warren Spahn † | 2,583 |
31 | Bob Feller † | 2,581 |
32 | Tim Keefe † | 2,564 |
33 | Cole Hamels | 2,560 |
34 | Jerry Koosman | 2,556 |
Rank | Player | K |
---|---|---|
35 | Javier Vázquez | 2,536 |
36 | Bartolo Colón | 2,535 |
37 | Félix Hernández | 2,524 |
38 | A. J. Burnett | 2,513 |
39 | Christy Mathewson † | 2,502 |
40 | Jon Lester | 2,488 |
41 | Don Drysdale † | 2,486 |
42 | Jack Morris † | 2,478 |
43 | Mark Langston | 2,464 |
44 | Jim Kaat † | 2,461 |
45 | Sam McDowell | 2,453 |
46 | Andy Pettitte | 2,448 |
47 | Jamie Moyer | 2,441 |
48 | Luis Tiant | 2,416 |
49 | Dennis Eckersley † | 2,401 |
50 | Kevin Brown | 2,397 |
51 | Sandy Koufax † | 2,396 |
52 | Charlie Hough | 2,362 |
53 | Robin Roberts † | 2,357 |
54 | Early Wynn † | 2,334 |
55 | Rube Waddell † | 2,316 |
56 | Juan Marichal † | 2,303 |
57 | John Lackey | 2,294 |
58 | Dwight Gooden | 2,293 |
59 | Lefty Grove † | 2,266 |
60 | Eddie Plank † | 2,246 |
61 | Tommy John | 2,245 |
62 | James Shields | 2,234 |
63 | Jim Palmer † | 2,212 |
64 | Jake Peavy | 2,207 |
65 | David Wells | 2,201 |
66 | Grover Cleveland Alexander † | 2,198 |
67 | Vida Blue | 2,175 |
68 | Camilo Pascual | 2,167 |
Rank | Player | K |
---|---|---|
69 | Tim Wakefield | 2,156 |
70 | Dennis Martínez | 2,149 |
71 | Adam Wainwright (143) | 2,147 |
72 | Roy Halladay † | 2,117 |
73 | Kevin Millwood | 2,083 |
74 | Bobo Newsom | 2,082 |
75 | Tim Hudson | 2,080 |
76 | David Price (37) | 2,076 |
77 | Ryan Dempster | 2,075 |
78 | Fernando Valenzuela | 2,074 |
79 | Chris Sale (5) | 2,064 |
80 | Madison Bumgarner (112) | 2,060 |
81 | Dazzy Vance † | 2,045 |
82 | Rick Reuschel | 2,015 |
83 | Orel Hershiser | 2,014 |
84 | Dan Haren | 2,013 |
85 | Catfish Hunter † | 2,012 |
86 | Andy Benes | 2,000 |
87 | Billy Pierce | 1,999 |
88 | Kevin Appier | 1,994 |
89 | Johan Santana | 1,988 |
90 | Red Ruffing † | 1,987 |
91 | John Clarkson † | 1,978 |
Ervin Santana | 1,978 | |
93 | Liván Hernández | 1,976 |
94 | Al Leiter | 1,974 |
95 | Bob Welch | 1,969 |
96 | Kenny Rogers | 1,968 |
97 | Whitey Ford † | 1,956 |
98 | Bobby Witt | 1,955 |
99 | Amos Rusie † | 1,950 |
100 | Danny Darwin | 1,942 |
Active pitchers with 1,700 strikeouts (stats updated through 2022):