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.

Nolan Ryan is the all-time leader in career strikeouts.

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 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.

†	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold	Denotes active player (with 2026 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 August 25, 2026.

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	Gaylord Perry †	3,534
10	Max Scherzer (36)	3,525
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 (166)	2,745
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

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 (100)	2,351
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 (149)	2,103
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 (123)	2,048
86	Dazzy Vance †	2,045
87	Aaron Nola (153)	2,029
88	Lance Lynn	2,015
	Rick Reuschel	2,015
90	Orel Hershiser	2,014
91	Dan Haren	2,013
92	Catfish Hunter †	2,012
93	Jacob deGrom (159)	2,010
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

See also

• 3,000 strikeout club