List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders
- This list is for pitchers. For career strikeouts by batters, see List of Major League Baseball career strikeouts by batters leaders
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.
List[]
† | 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.
- Stats updated through the end of the 2021 season.
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 | Ferguson Jenkins † | 3,192 |
13 | Pedro Martínez † | 3,154 |
14 | Bob Gibson † | 3,117 |
15 | Curt Schilling | 3,116 |
16 | CC Sabathia | 3,093 |
17 | John Smoltz † | 3,084 |
18 | Max Scherzer (236) | 3,020 |
19 | Justin Verlander (0) | 3,013 |
20 | Jim Bunning † | 2,855 |
21 | Mickey Lolich | 2,832 |
22 | Mike Mussina † | 2,813 |
23 | Zack Greinke (120) | 2,809 |
24 | Cy Young † | 2,803 |
25 | Frank Tanana | 2,773 |
26 | Clayton Kershaw (144) | 2,670 |
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 (91) | 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 | Roy Halladay † | 2,117 |
72 | Kevin Millwood | 2,083 |
73 | Bobo Newsom | 2,082 |
74 | Tim Hudson | 2,080 |
75 | Ryan Dempster | 2,075 |
76 | Fernando Valenzuela | 2,074 |
77 | Chris Sale (52) | 2,059 |
78 | Dazzy Vance † | 2,045 |
79 | David Price (58) | 2,039 |
80 | Rick Reuschel | 2,015 |
81 | Orel Hershiser | 2,014 |
82 | Dan Haren | 2,013 |
83 | Catfish Hunter † | 2,012 |
84 | Adam Wainwright (174) | 2,004 |
85 | Andy Benes | 2,000 |
86 | Billy Pierce | 1,999 |
87 | Kevin Appier | 1,994 |
88 | Johan Santana | 1,988 |
89 | Red Ruffing † | 1,987 |
90 | John Clarkson † | 1,978 |
Ervin Santana (52) | 1,978 | |
92 | Liván Hernández | 1,976 |
93 | Al Leiter | 1,974 |
94 | Bob Welch | 1,969 |
95 | Kenny Rogers | 1,968 |
96 | Whitey Ford † | 1,956 |
97 | Bobby Witt | 1,955 |
98 | Amos Rusie † | 1,950 |
99 | Madison Bumgarner (124) | 1,948 |
100 | Danny Darwin | 1,942 |
Active pitchers with 1,700 strikeouts (stats updated through the end of the 2021 season):
- Stephen Strasburg (1,718) - 21 in 2021
- Johnny Cueto (1,710) - 98 in 2021
- Ian Kennedy (1,710) - 62 in 2021
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Nolan Ryan Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ^ Boston, Talmadge. "Nolan Ryan Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ^ "Nolan Ryan Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
- ^ "Roger Clemens Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ^ "Player Pitching Season & Career Finder: Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, In the Regular Season, since 1871, Playing in the AL, requiring Strikeouts >= 3000, sorted by greatest Strikeouts". Stathead. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
- ^ "Steve Carlton Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ^ "Player Pitching Season & Career Finder:Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, In the Regular Season, since 1871, Playing in the NL, requiring Strikeouts >= 3000, sorted by greatest Strikeouts". Stathead. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
- ^ MLB.com – Career Leaders for Strikeouts
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