This list is for pitchers. For career strikeouts by batters, see List of Major League Baseball career strikeouts by batters leaders . Nolan Ryan is the all-time leader in career strikeouts. 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] American League record is held by Roger Clemens [ 4] [ 5] 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 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 9th all-time. A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.
Stats updated as of August 19, 2025.[ 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 Justin Verlander (95)3,511 10 Walter Johnson † 3,508 11 Max Scherzer (56)3,463 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 Clayton Kershaw (49)3,017 21 Zack Greinke 2,979 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 Chris Sale (114)2,528 38 Félix Hernández 2,524 39 A. J. Burnett 2,513 40 Christy Mathewson † 2,502 41 Jon Lester 2,488 42 Don Drysdale † 2,486 43 Jack Morris † 2,478 44 Mark Langston 2,464 45 Jim Kaat † 2,461 46 Sam McDowell 2,453 47 Andy Pettitte 2,448 48 Jamie Moyer 2,441 49 Luis Tiant 2,416 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 Charlie Morton (122)2,169 72 Camilo Pascual 2,167 73 Tim Wakefield 2,156 74 Dennis Martínez 2,149 75 Roy Halladay † 2,117 76 Kevin Millwood 2,083 77 Bobo Newsom 2,082 78 Tim Hudson 2,080 79 David Price 2,076 80 Ryan Dempster 2,075 81 Fernando Valenzuela 2,074 82 Madison Bumgarner 2,070 83 Dazzy Vance † 2,045 84 Yu Darvish (34)2,041 85 Lance Lynn 2,015 Rick Reuschel 2,015 87 Orel Hershiser 2,014 88 Dan Haren 2,013 89 Catfish Hunter † 2,012 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 ^ "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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Career Annual Season Game Misc
Baserunning
Pitching
Career Annual Season Game Misc
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