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List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

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(Redirected from List of top 100 Major League Baseball strikeout pitchers)

Nolan Ryan is the all-time leader in career strikeouts.
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 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 (4,167 strikeouts), while in the National League, the record is 4,000 by Steve Carlton.

The parentheses adjacent to an active player denote the number of strikeouts in the current season. The last change in the cutoff for the top 100 occurred on June 22, 2024, when Charlie Morton struck out his 1,957th batter, displacing Whitey Ford.

List

Justin Verlander is the active leader in career strikeouts and is 10th all-time.
† Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold Denotes active player (with 2025 season strikeouts shown).

A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.

  • Stats updated as of the end of the 2024 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 Justin Verlander (0) 3,416
11 Max Scherzer (0) 3,407
12 Greg Maddux † 3,371
13 Phil Niekro † 3,342
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 (0) 2,979
21 Clayton Kershaw (0) 2,968
22 Jim Bunning † 2,855
23 Mickey Lolich 2,832
24 Mike Mussina † 2,813
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
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 Chris Sale (0) 2,414
50 Dennis Eckersley † 2,401
Rank Player K
51 Kevin Brown 2,397
52 Sandy Koufax † 2,396
53 Charlie Hough 2,362
54 Robin Roberts † 2,357
55 Early Wynn † 2,334
56 Rube Waddell † 2,316
57 Juan Marichal † 2,303
58 John Lackey 2,294
59 Dwight Gooden 2,293
60 Lefty Grove † 2,266
61 Gerrit Cole (0) 2,251
62 Eddie Plank † 2,246
63 Tommy John 2,245
64 James Shields 2,234
65 Jim Palmer † 2,212
66 Jake Peavy 2,207
67 Adam Wainwright 2,202
68 David Wells 2,201
69 Grover Cleveland Alexander † 2,198
70 Vida Blue 2,175
71 Camilo Pascual 2,167
72 Tim Wakefield 2,156
73 Dennis Martínez 2,149
74 Roy Halladay † 2,117
75 Kevin Millwood 2,083
76 Bobo Newsom 2,082
77 Tim Hudson 2,080
78 David Price 2,076
79 Ryan Dempster 2,075
80 Fernando Valenzuela 2,074
81 Madison Bumgarner 2,070
82 Charlie Morton (0) 2,047
83 Dazzy Vance † 2,045
84 Lance Lynn (0) 2,015
Rick Reuschel 2,015
86 Orel Hershiser 2,014
87 Dan Haren 2,013
88 Catfish Hunter † 2,012
89 Yu Darvish (0) 2,007
90 Andy Benes 2,000
91 Billy Pierce 1,999
92 Kevin Appier 1,994
93 Johan Santana 1,988
94 Red Ruffing † 1,987
95 John Clarkson † 1,978
Ervin Santana 1,978
97 Liván Hernández 1,976
98 Al Leiter 1,974
99 Bob Welch 1,969
100 Kenny Rogers 1,968


See also

References

  1. "Nolan Ryan Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  2. Boston, Talmadge. "Nolan Ryan Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  3. "Nolan Ryan Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
  4. "Roger Clemens Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  5. "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.
  6. "Steve Carlton Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  7. "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.
  8. MLB.com – Career Leaders for Strikeouts
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