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 List [ edit ]
A player is considered "inactive" if he has not played baseball for one year or has announced his retirement.
Stats updated through the end of 2015 season.
[ 1] [ 2]
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
Jim Bunning †
2,855
18
Mickey Lolich
2,832
19
Mike Mussina
2,813
20
Cy Young †
2,803
21
Frank Tanana
2,773
22
David Cone
2,668
23
Chuck Finley
2,610
24
Tom Glavine †
2,607
25
Warren Spahn †
2,583
26
Bob Feller †
2,581
27
CC Sabathia (137)
2,574
28
Tim Keefe †
2,564
29
Jerry Koosman
2,556
30
Javier Vázquez
2,536
31
A. J. Burnett (143)
2,513
32
Christy Mathewson †
2,507
33
Don Drysdale †
2,486
34
Jack Morris
2,478
Rank
Player
K
35
Mark Langston
2,464
36
Jim Kaat
2,461
37
Sam McDowell
2,453
38
Andy Pettitte
2,448
39
Jamie Moyer
2,441
40
Luis Tiant
2,416
41
Dennis Eckersley †
2,401
42
Kevin Brown
2,397
43
Sandy Koufax †
2,396
44
Charlie Hough
2,362
45
Robin Roberts †
2,357
46
Early Wynn †
2,334
47
Rube Waddell †
2,316
48
Juan Marichal †
2,303
49
Dwight Gooden
2,293
50
Lefty Grove †
2,266
51
Eddie Plank †
2,246
52
Tommy John
2,245
53
Bartolo Colón (136)
2,237
54
Jim Palmer †
2,212
55
David Wells
2,201
56
Grover Cleveland Alexander †
2,198
57
Vida Blue
2,175
58
Camilo Pascual
2,167
59
Tim Wakefield
2,156
60
Dennis Martínez
2,149
61
Félix Hernández (191)
2,142
62
Roy Halladay
2,117
63
Jake Peavy (78)
2,105
64
Kevin Millwood
2,083
65
Bobo Newsom
2,082
66
Tim Hudson (64)
2,080
67
Ryan Dempster
2,075
Rank
Player
K
68
Fernando Valenzuela
2,074
69
Dazzy Vance †
2,045
70
Rick Reuschel
2,015
71
Orel Hershiser
2,014
72
Dan Haren (132)
2,013
73
Catfish Hunter †
2,012
74
Andy Benes
2,000
75
Billy Pierce
1,999
76
Kevin Appier
1,994
77
Johan Santana
1,988
78
Red Ruffing †
1,987
79
John Clarkson †
1,978
80
Liván Hernández
1,976
81
Al Leiter
1,974
82
Bob Welch
1,969
83
Kenny Rogers
1,968
84
John Lackey (175)
1,965
85
Whitey Ford †
1,956
86
Bobby Witt
1,955
87
Amos Rusie †
1,950
88
Justin Verlander (113)
1,943
89
Danny Darwin
1,942
90
Tom Gordon
1,928
91
Cole Hamels (215)
1,922
92
Hideo Nomo
1,918
93
Jerry Reuss
1,907
94
Josh Beckett
1,901
95
Zack Greinke (200)
1,887
96
Barry Zito
1,885
97
Kid Nichols †
1,8731
98
Mark Buehrle (91)
1,870
99
Roy Oswalt
1,852
100
Mickey Welch †
1,850
^ Baseball Reference lists Kid Nichols at 1,881 strikeouts and MLB.com credits him with 1,873. Total is listed according to MLB.com.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
General
Batting leaders
Career
Annual
Season
Game
Misc
Baserunning leaders
Pitching leaders
Managing records
Multiple stat records