List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders - wikipedia 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 Nolan Ryan † 5,714 Randy Johnson † 4,875 Roger Clemens 4,672 Steve Carlton † 4,136 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 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 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 Baseball portal 3,000 strikeout club Top 15 and List of Active MLB Players in the Top 50 in Strikeouts References Jump up ^ MLB.com -- Career Leaders for Strikeouts Jump up ^ Baseball Reference -- MLB Career Leaders and Records for Strikeouts Major League Baseball records Baseball statistics ( types of records ) General Career records Single - game records Single - season records Record breakers by season Records considered unbreakable Titles leaders Batting leaders Career Batting average On - base percentage Times on base Slugging percentage OPS Hits 3,000 club Progressive Singles Doubles Triples Home runs 500 club Progressive Extra base hits RBIs Total bases Walks Intentional HBP Strikeouts Games played At - bats Plate appearances Annual Batting average Doubles Triples Home runs RBI Season Batting average Triples Home run Progressive Game Home runs Hitting for the cycle Grand slams RBI Game Inning Hits Misc Consecutive game hitting streak On - base plus slugging Hits Home runs Doubles Triples RBIs Baserunning leaders Career Runs Stolen bases Annual Runs Stolen bases Game Runs Misc Runs Stolen bases Pitching leaders Career Wins 300 club Losses Games started Games finished Innings pitched Strikeouts 3,000 club Saves Complete games Shutouts ERA WHIP Walks Hit batsmen Wild pitches Batters faced Annual Wins Saves Shutouts Strikeouts ERA Game No - hitters Perfect games Strikeouts Game Inning Immaculate innings Misc Wins Fielding leaders Career Putouts 1B 2B SS 3B OF LF CF RF Errors 1B 2B SS 3B OF LF CF Assists Passed balls Annual Putouts Errors Game Triple plays Managing records Wins and winning percentage Multiple stat records Triple Crown 20 -- 20 -- 20 club 30 -- 30 club 40 -- 40 club Other Consecutive games played Longest winning streaks Longest losing streaks Individual streaks Titles streaks Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_strikeout_leaders&oldid=861806982 '' Categories : Major League Baseball lists Baseball records Baseball pitching Top sports lists Talk About Wikipedia Português Edit links This page was last edited on 30 September 2018, at 04 : 37 ( UTC ). 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Question: who has the most strikeouts in a career
Answer: Nolan Ryan