List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

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

†	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold	Denotes active player.

A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.
Stats updated through September 28, 2018.

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	John Smoltz †	3,084
17	CC Sabathia (140)	2,986
18	Jim Bunning †	2,855
19	Mickey Lolich	2,832
20	Mike Mussina	2,813
21	Cy Young †	2,803
22	Frank Tanana	2,773
23	Justin Verlander (290)	2,706
24	David Cone	2,668
25	Chuck Finley	2,610
26	Tom Glavine †	2,607
27	Warren Spahn †	2,583
28	Bob Feller †	2,581
29	Tim Keefe †	2,564
30	Jerry Koosman	2,556
31	Javier Vázquez	2,536
32	Bartolo Colón (81)	2,535
33	A. J. Burnett	2,513
34	Christy Mathewson †	2,507

Rank	Player	K
35	Don Drysdale †	2,486
36	Jack Morris †	2,478
37	Félix Hernández (125)	2,467
38	Mark Langston	2,464
39	Jim Kaat	2,461
40	Sam McDowell	2,453
41	Max Scherzer (300)	2,449
42	Andy Pettitte	2,448
43	Jamie Moyer	2,441
44	Zack Greinke (199)	2,435
45	Luis Tiant	2,416
46	Cole Hamels (180)	2,407
47	Dennis Eckersley †	2,401
48	Kevin Brown	2,397
49	Sandy Koufax †	2,396
50	Charlie Hough	2,362
51	Robin Roberts †	2,357
52	Early Wynn †	2,334
53	Rube Waddell †	2,316
54	Juan Marichal †	2,303
55	John Lackey	2,294
56	Dwight Gooden	2,293
57	Clayton Kershaw (155)	2,275
58	Lefty Grove †	2,266
59	Eddie Plank †	2,246
60	Tommy John	2,245
61	James Shields (154)	2,234
62	Jim Palmer †	2,212
63	Jake Peavy	2,207
64	David Wells	2,201
65	Grover Cleveland Alexander †	2,198
66	Jon Lester (149)	2,190
67	Vida Blue	2,175
68	Camilo Pascual	2,168

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	Andy Benes	2,000
83	Billy Pierce	1,999
84	Kevin Appier	1,994
85	Johan Santana	1,988
86	Red Ruffing †	1,987
87	John Clarkson †	1,978
88	Liván Hernández	1,976
89	Al Leiter	1,974
90	Bob Welch	1,969
91	Kenny Rogers	1,968
92	Whitey Ford †	1,956
93	Bobby Witt	1,955
94	Amos Rusie †	1,950
95	Danny Darwin	1,942
96	Tom Gordon	1,928
97	Ervin Santana (16)	1,921
98	Hideo Nomo	1,918
98	Jerry Reuss	1,907
100	Josh Beckett	1,901

See also

• 3,000 strikeout club
• Top 15 and List of Active MLB Players in the Top 50 in Strikeouts