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[1][2][3] 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] (4,167 strikeouts),[5] while in the National League, the record is 4,000 by Steve Carlton.[6][7]
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 April 14, 2024, when Yu Darvish struck out his 1,951st batter, displacing Amos Rusie.
^"Nolan Ryan Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
^Boston, Talmadge. "Nolan Ryan Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
^"Nolan Ryan Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
^"Roger Clemens Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
^"Player Pitching Season & Career Finder: Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, In the Regular Season, since 1871, Playing in the AL, requiring Strikeouts >= 3000, sorted by greatest Strikeouts". Stathead. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
^"Steve Carlton Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
^"Player Pitching Season & Career Finder:Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, In the Regular Season, since 1871, Playing in the NL, requiring Strikeouts >= 3000, sorted by greatest Strikeouts". Stathead. Retrieved April 14, 2021.