List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

The following list is of the top 100 leaders 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 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 2020 season.

[1][2]

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 † 3,509
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 Justin Verlander (7) 3,013
19 Jim Bunning † 2,855
20 Mickey Lolich 2,832
21 Mike Mussina † 2,813
22 Cy Young † 2,803
23 Max Scherzer (92) 2,784
24 Frank Tanana 2,773
25 Zack Greinke (67) 2,689
26 David Cone 2,668
27 Chuck Finley 2,610
28 Tom Glavine † 2,607
29 Warren Spahn † 2,583
30 Bob Feller † 2,581
31 Tim Keefe † 2,564
32 Cole Hamels (2) 2,560
33 Jerry Koosman 2,556
34 Javier Vázquez 2,536
Rank Player K
35 Bartolo Colón 2,535
36 Clayton Kershaw (62) 2,526
37 Felix Hernandez (0) 2,524
38 A. J. Burnett 2,513
39 Christy Mathewson † 2,502
40 Don Drysdale † 2,486
41 Jack Morris † 2,478
42 Mark Langston 2,464
43 Jim Kaat 2,461
44 Sam McDowell 2,453
45 Andy Pettitte 2,448
46 Jamie Moyer 2,441
47 Luis Tiant 2,416
48 Dennis Eckersley † 2,401
49 Kevin Brown 2,397
Jon Lester (42) 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 Dazzy Vance † 2,045
78 Rick Reuschel 2,015
79 Orel Hershiser 2,014
80 Dan Haren 2,013
81 Catfish Hunter † 2,012
82 Chris Sale (0) 2,007
83 Andy Benes 2,000
84 Billy Pierce 1,999
85 Kevin Appier 1,994
86 Johan Santana 1,988
87 Red Ruffing † 1,987
88 David Price (0) 1,981
89 John Clarkson † 1,978
90 Liván Hernández 1,976
91 Al Leiter 1,974
92 Bob Welch 1,969
93 Kenny Rogers 1,968
94 Whitey Ford † 1,956
95 Bobby Witt 1,955
96 Amos Rusie † 1,950
97 Danny Darwin 1,942
98 Tom Gordon 1,928
99 Ervin Santana (0) 1,926
100 Hideo Nomo 1,918

Next players to watch (active pitchers with 1,700 strikeouts):

See also

References
  1. MLB.com – Career Leaders for Strikeouts
  2. Baseball Reference – MLB Career Leaders and Records for Strikeouts
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