# 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 4,000 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 June 22, 2024, when Charlie Morton struck out his 1,957th batter, displacing Whitey Ford.

## List

| † | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
| Bold | Denotes active player (with 2025 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 the end of the 2024 season.
| 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 | Justin Verlander (0) | 3,416 |
| 11 | Max Scherzer (0) | 3,407 |
| 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 | Zack Greinke | 2,979 |
| 21 | Clayton Kershaw (0) | 2,968 |
| 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 | David Cone | 2,668 |
| 28 | Chuck Finley | 2,610 |
| 29 | Tom Glavine † | 2,607 |
| 30 | Warren Spahn † | 2,583 |
| 31 | Bob Feller † | 2,581 |
| 32 | Tim Keefe † | 2,564 |
| 33 | Cole Hamels | 2,560 |
| 34 | Jerry Koosman | 2,556 |
| 35 | Javier Vázquez | 2,536 |
| 36 | Bartolo Colón | 2,535 |
| 37 | Félix Hernández | 2,524 |
| 38 | A. J. Burnett | 2,513 |
| 39 | Christy Mathewson † | 2,502 |
| 40 | Jon Lester | 2,488 |
| 41 | Don Drysdale † | 2,486 |
| 42 | Jack Morris † | 2,478 |
| 43 | Mark Langston | 2,464 |
| 44 | Jim Kaat † | 2,461 |
| 45 | Sam McDowell | 2,453 |
| 46 | Andy Pettitte | 2,448 |
| 47 | Jamie Moyer | 2,441 |
| 48 | Luis Tiant | 2,416 |
| 49 | Chris Sale (0) | 2,414 |
| 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 | Early Wynn † | 2,334 |
| 56 | Rube Waddell † | 2,316 |
| 57 | Juan Marichal † | 2,303 |
| 58 | John Lackey | 2,294 |
| 59 | Dwight Gooden | 2,293 |
| 60 | Lefty Grove † | 2,266 |
| 61 | Gerrit Cole (0) | 2,251 |
| 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 | Vida Blue | 2,175 |
| 71 | Camilo Pascual | 2,167 |
| 72 | Tim Wakefield | 2,156 |
| 73 | Dennis Martínez | 2,149 |
| 74 | Roy Halladay † | 2,117 |
| 75 | Kevin Millwood | 2,083 |
| 76 | Bobo Newsom | 2,082 |
| 77 | Tim Hudson | 2,080 |
| 78 | David Price | 2,076 |
| 79 | Ryan Dempster | 2,075 |
| 80 | Fernando Valenzuela | 2,074 |
| 81 | Madison Bumgarner | 2,070 |
| 82 | Charlie Morton (0) | 2,047 |
| 83 | Dazzy Vance † | 2,045 |
| 84 | Lance Lynn (0) | 2,015 |
| | Rick Reuschel | 2,015 |
| 86 | Orel Hershiser | 2,014 |
| 87 | Dan Haren | 2,013 |
| 88 | Catfish Hunter † | 2,012 |
| 89 | Yu Darvish (0) | 2,007 |
| 90 | Andy Benes | 2,000 |
| 91 | Billy Pierce | 1,999 |
| 92 | Kevin Appier | 1,994 |
| 93 | Johan Santana | 1,988 |
| 94 | Red Ruffing † | 1,987 |
| 95 | John Clarkson † | 1,978 |
| | Ervin Santana | 1,978 |
| 97 | Liván Hernández | 1,976 |
| 98 | Al Leiter | 1,974 |
| 99 | Bob Welch | 1,969 |
| 100 | Kenny Rogers | 1,968 |