List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders
The following list is of the top 100 leaders 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 has the most career strikeouts in Major League Baseball. During a record 27-year career, he struck out 5,714 batters.
The parentheses adjacent to an active player denote the number of strikeouts in the current season.The List
A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.
Stats updated through July 31, 2020.
| 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 | CC Sabathia | 3,093 |
| 17 | John Smoltz † | 3,084 |
| 18 | Justin Verlander | 3,013 |
| 19 | Jim Bunning † | 2,855 |
| 20 | Mickey Lolich | 2,832 |
| 21 | Mike Mussina † | 2,813 |
| 22 | Cy Young † | 2,803 |
| 23 | Frank Tanana | 2,773 |
| 24 | Max Scherzer | 2,713 |
| 25 | David Cone | 2,668 |
| 26 | Zack Greinke | 2,624 |
| 27 | Chuck Finley | 2,610 |
| 28 | Tom Glavine † | 2,607 |
| 29 | Warren Spahn † | 2,583 |
| 30 | Bob Feller † | 2,581 |
| 31 | Tim Keefe † | 2,564 |
| 32 | Cole Hamels | 2,558 |
| 33 | Jerry Koosman | 2,556 |
| 34 | Javier Vázquez | 2,536 |
| Rank | Player | K |
| 69 | Tim Wakefield | 2,156 |
| 70 | Dennis Martínez | 2,149 |
| 71 | Roy Halladay † | 2,117 |
| 72 | Kevin Millwood | 2,083 |
| 73 | Bobo Newsom | 2,082 |
| 74 | Tim Hudson | 2,080 |
| 75 | Ryan Dempster | 2,075 |
| 76 | Fernando Valenzuela | 2,074 |
| 77 | Dazzy Vance † | 2,045 |
| 78 | Rick Reuschel | 2,015 |
| 79 | Orel Hershiser | 2,014 |
| 80 | Dan Haren | 2,013 |
| 81 | Catfish Hunter † | 2,012 |
| 82 | Chris Sale | 2,007 |
| 83 | Andy Benes | 2,000 |
| 84 | Billy Pierce | 1,999 |
| 85 | Kevin Appier | 1,994 |
| 86 | Johan Santana | 1,988 |
| 87 | Red Ruffing † | 1,987 |
| 88 | David Price | 1,981 |
| 89 | John Clarkson † | 1,978 |
| 90 | Liván Hernández | 1,976 |
| 91 | Al Leiter | 1,974 |
| 92 | Bob Welch | 1,969 |
| 93 | Kenny Rogers | 1,968 |
| 94 | Whitey Ford † | 1,956 |
| 95 | Bobby Witt | 1,955 |
| 96 | Amos Rusie † | 1,950 |
| 97 | Danny Darwin | 1,942 |
| 98 | Tom Gordon | 1,928 |
| 99 | Ervin Santana | 1,926 |
| 100 | Hideo Nomo | 1,918 |
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