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.

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 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 (4,167 strikeouts), while in the National League, the record is 4,136 by Steve Carlton.

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 September 5, 2026, when Zack Wheeler struck out his 1,979th batter, passing up John Clarkson and Ervin Santana.

List

† Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.Bold Denotes active player (with 2027 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 2026 Season.MLB.com – Career Leaders for Strikeouts

RankPlayerK1Nolan Ryan †5,7142Randy Johnson †4,8753Roger Clemens4,6724Steve Carlton †4,1365Bert Blyleven †3,7016Tom Seaver †3,6407Don Sutton †3,5748Justin Verlander3,5609Max Scherzer (0)3,55710Gaylord Perry †3,53411Walter Johnson †3,50912Greg Maddux †3,37113Phil Niekro †3,34214Ferguson Jenkins †3,19215Pedro Martínez †3,15416Bob Gibson †3,11717Curt Schilling3,11618CC Sabathia †3,09319John Smoltz †3,08420Clayton Kershaw3,05221Zack Greinke2,97922Jim Bunning †2,85523Mickey Lolich2,83224Mike Mussina †2,81325Cy Young †2,80326Chris Sale (0)2,77927Frank Tanana2,77328David Cone2,66829Chuck Finley2,61030Tom Glavine †2,60731Warren Spahn †2,58332Bob Feller †2,58133Tim Keefe †2,56434Cole Hamels2,56035Jerry Koosman2,55636Javier Vázquez2,53637Bartolo Colón2,53538Félix Hernández2,52439A. J. Burnett2,51340Christy Mathewson †2,50241Jon Lester2,48842Don Drysdale †2,48643Jack Morris †2,47844Mark Langston2,46445Jim Kaat †2,46146Sam McDowell2,45347Andy Pettitte2,44848Jamie Moyer2,44149Luis Tiant2,41650Dennis Eckersley †2,401 RankPlayerK51Kevin Brown2,39752Sandy Koufax †2,39653Gerrit Cole (0)2,38254Charlie Hough2,36255Robin Roberts †2,35756Early Wynn †2,33457Rube Waddell †2,31658Juan Marichal †2,30359John Lackey2,29460Dwight Gooden2,29361Lefty Grove †2,26662Eddie Plank †2,24663Tommy John2,24564James Shields2,23465Jim Palmer †2,21266Jake Peavy2,20767Adam Wainwright2,20268David Wells2,20169Grover Cleveland Alexander †2,19870Charlie Morton2,19671Vida Blue2,17572Camilo Pascual2,16773Tim Wakefield2,15674Dennis Martínez2,14975Kevin Gausman (0)2,13876Roy Halladay †2,11777Kevin Millwood2,08378Bobo Newsom2,08279Tim Hudson2,08080David Price2,07681Yu Darvish (0)2,075Ryan Dempster2,07583Sonny Gray (0)2,074Fernando Valenzuela2,07485Madison Bumgarner2,07086Aaron Nola (0)2,05387Jacob deGrom (0)2,05288Dazzy Vance †2,04589Lance Lynn2,015Rick Reuschel2,01591Orel Hershiser2,01492Dan Haren2,013Zack Wheeler (0)2,01394Catfish Hunter †2,01295Andy Benes2,00096Billy Pierce1,99997Kevin Appier1,99498Johan Santana1,98899Red Ruffing †1,987100John Clarkson †1,978Ervin Santana1,978

See also 3,000 strikeout club

References