List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

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]} 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 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 8th 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 September 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	Justin Verlander (127)	3,543
9	Gaylord Perry †	3,534
10	Walter Johnson †	3,509
11	Max Scherzer (77)	3,484
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 (77)	3,045
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
	Chris Sale (150)	2,564
34	Cole Hamels	2,560
35	Jerry Koosman	2,556
36	Javier Vázquez	2,536
37	Bartolo Colón	2,535
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	Charlie Morton (148)	2,195
71	Vida Blue	2,175
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	Yu Darvish (60)	2,067
84	Dazzy Vance †	2,045
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

• 3,000 strikeout club

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