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List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

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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.

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.

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 4,136 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 July 20, 2026, when Jacob deGrom struck out his 1,976th batter, replacing Liván Hernández as 100th all-time.

List

Justin Verlander is the active leader in career strikeouts and 8th all-time.
More information †, Bold ...
† Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold Denotes active player (with 2026 season strikeouts shown).
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A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.

  • Stats updated as of August 31, 2026.[8]
More information Rank, Player ...
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 (1) 3,554
9 Max Scherzer (46) 3,535
10 Gaylord Perry † 3,534
11 Walter Johnson † 3,509
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 3,052
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 Chris Sale (177) 2,756
28 David Cone 2,668
29 Chuck Finley 2,610
30 Tom Glavine † 2,607
31 Warren Spahn † 2,583
32 Bob Feller † 2,581
33 Tim Keefe † 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
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More information Rank, Player ...
Rank Player K
51 Kevin Brown 2,397
52 Sandy Koufax † 2,396
53 Charlie Hough 2,362
54 Robin Roberts † 2,357
55 Gerrit Cole (105) 2,356
56 Early Wynn † 2,334
57 Rube Waddell † 2,316
58 Juan Marichal † 2,303
59 John Lackey 2,294
60 Dwight Gooden 2,293
61 Lefty Grove † 2,266
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 2,196
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 Gausman (156) 2,110
77 Kevin Millwood 2,083
78 Bobo Newsom 2,082
79 Tim Hudson 2,080
80 David Price 2,076
81 Yu Darvish (0) 2,075
Ryan Dempster 2,075
83 Fernando Valenzuela 2,074
84 Madison Bumgarner 2,070
85 Sonny Gray (128) 2,053
86 Dazzy Vance † 2,045
87 Aaron Nola (157) 2,033
88 Jacob deGrom (167) 2,018
89 Lance Lynn 2,015
Rick Reuschel 2,015
91 Orel Hershiser 2,014
92 Dan Haren 2,013
93 Catfish Hunter † 2,012
94 Andy Benes 2,000
95 Billy Pierce 1,999
96 Kevin Appier 1,994
97 Johan Santana 1,988
98 Red Ruffing † 1,987
99 John Clarkson † 1,978
Ervin Santana 1,978
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