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 [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. The last change in the cutoff for the top 100 occurred on March 30, 2023, when Gerrit Cole struck out his 1,943rd batter, displacing Danny Darwin .
List
Max Scherzer is the active leader and 11th all-time in career strikeouts.
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 2023 season.[8]
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
Max Scherzer (0)
3,367
12
Phil Niekro †
3,342
Justin Verlander (0)
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)
2,944
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
Dennis Eckersley †
2,401
50
Kevin Brown
2,397
Rank
Player
K
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
Adam Wainwright
2,202
66
David Wells
2,201
67
Grover Cleveland Alexander †
2,198
68
Chris Sale (0)
2,189
69
Vida Blue
2,175
70
Camilo Pascual
2,167
71
Tim Wakefield
2,156
72
Gerrit Cole (0)
2,152
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 (0)
2,070
82
Dazzy Vance †
2,045
83
Rick Reuschel
2,015
84
Orel Hershiser
2,014
85
Dan Haren
2,013
86
Catfish Hunter †
2,012
87
Andy Benes
2,000
88
Billy Pierce
1,999
89
Kevin Appier
1,994
90
Johan Santana
1,988
91
Red Ruffing †
1,987
92
John Clarkson †
1,978
Ervin Santana
1,978
94
Liván Hernández
1,976
95
Al Leiter
1,974
96
Bob Welch
1,969
97
Kenny Rogers
1,968
98
Whitey Ford †
1,956
99
Bobby Witt
1,955
100
Amos Rusie †
1,950
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
General Batting leaders
Career Annual Season Game Misc
Baserunning leaders
Pitching leaders
Career Annual Season Game Misc
Fielding leaders
Sabermetrics leaders Managing records Multiple stat records Other
The article is a derivative under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
A link to the original article can be found here and attribution parties here
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use . Gpedia ® is a registered trademark of the Cyberajah Pty Ltd