List of Major League Baseball career strikeouts by batters leaders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In baseball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safely as a result. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is usually denoted by the letter K, or sometimes by the initialism SO.[1]
- This list is for batters. For career strikeouts by pitchers, see List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders.
Reggie Jackson[2][3][4] holds the record for the most career strikeouts by a batter with 2,597.[5] Jim Thome[6] (2,548), Adam Dunn[7] (2,379), Sammy Sosa[8] (2,306), Alex Rodriguez[9] (2,287), Miguel Cabrera[10] (2,105), Giancarlo Stanton[11] (2,088), and Andrés Galarraga[12] (2,003) are the only other hitters to strike out over 2,000 times.
Key
| Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career strikeouts. A blank field indicates a tie. |
| Player (2026 Ks) | Number of strikeouts during the 2026 Major League Baseball season. |
| K | Total career strikeouts. |
| * | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
|---|---|
| Bold | Denotes active player.[note 1] |
List
- Stats updated as of May 7, 2026.
Notes
- A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season.