List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

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 List

† Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold Denotes active player.
( ) Strikeouts for the 2016 season.

A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.
Stats updated through May 4 2016.

[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 † 3,508
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 John Smoltz † 3,084
17 Jim Bunning † 2,855
18 Mickey Lolich 2,832
19 Mike Mussina 2,813
20 Cy Young † 2,803
21 Frank Tanana 2,773
22 David Cone 2,668
23 Chuck Finley 2,610
24 Tom Glavine † 2,607
25 CC Sabathia (21) 2,595
26 Warren Spahn † 2,583
27 Bob Feller † 2,581
28 Tim Keefe † 2,564
29 Jerry Koosman 2,556
30 Javier Vázquez 2,536
31 A. J. Burnett 2,513
32 Christy Mathewson † 2,507
33 Don Drysdale † 2,486
34 Jack Morris 2,478
Rank Player K
35 Mark Langston 2,464
36 Jim Kaat 2,461
37 Sam McDowell 2,453
38 Andy Pettitte 2,448
39 Jamie Moyer 2,441
40 Luis Tiant 2,416
41 Dennis Eckersley † 2,401
42 Kevin Brown 2,397
43 Sandy Koufax † 2,396
44 Charlie Hough 2,362
45 Robin Roberts † 2,357
46 Early Wynn † 2,334
47 Rube Waddell † 2,316
48 Juan Marichal † 2,303
49 Dwight Gooden 2,293
50 Lefty Grove † 2,266
51 Bartolo Colón (28) 2,265
52 Eddie Plank † 2,246
53 Tommy John 2,245
54 Jim Palmer † 2,212
55 David Wells 2,201
56 Grover Cleveland Alexander † 2,198
57 Vida Blue 2,175
58 Félix Hernández (25) 2,171
59 Camilo Pascual 2,167
60 Tim Wakefield 2,156
61 Dennis Martínez 2,149
62 Jake Peavy (25) 2,130
63 Roy Halladay 2,115
64 Kevin Millwood 2,083
65 Bobo Newsom 2,082
66 Tim Hudson 2,080
67 Ryan Dempster 2,075
Rank Player K
68 Fernando Valenzuela 2,074
69 Dazzy Vance † 2,045
70 Rick Reuschel 2,015
71 Orel Hershiser 2,014
72 Dan Haren 2,013
73 Catfish Hunter † 2,012
74 Andy Benes 2,000
75 Billy Pierce 1,999
76 Kevin Appier 1,994
John Lackey (30) 1,994
78 Johan Santana 1,988
79 Red Ruffing † 1,987
80 John Clarkson † 1,978
81 Liván Hernández 1,976
Justin Verlander (33) 1,976
83 Al Leiter 1,974
84 Bob Welch 1,969
85 Kenny Rogers 1,968
86 Whitey Ford † 1,956
87 Bobby Witt 1,955
88 Amos Rusie † 1,950
89 Cole Hamels (27) 1,949
90 Danny Darwin 1,942
91 Tom Gordon 1,928
92 Zack Greinke (31) 1,919
93 Hideo Nomo 1,918
94 Jerry Reuss 1,907
95 Josh Beckett 1,901
96 Barry Zito 1,885
97 Kid Nichols † 1,8731
98 Mark Buehrle 1,870
99 James Shields (26) 1,868
100 Roy Oswalt 1,852
  • ^ Baseball Reference lists Kid Nichols at 1,881 strikeouts and MLB.com credits him with 1,873. Total is listed according to MLB.com.


See also

References

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