List of Major League Baseball career strikeouts by batters leaders

This list is for batters. For career strikeouts by pitchers, see List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders

In baseball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safely as a result. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is usually denoted by the letter K, or sometimes by the initialism SO.^[1]

Reggie Jackson^[2]^[3]^[4] holds the record for the most career strikeouts by a batter with 2,597.^[5] Jim Thome^[6] (2,548), Adam Dunn^[7] (2,379), Sammy Sosa^[8] (2,306), Alex Rodriguez^[9] (2,287), Miguel Cabrera^[10] (2,105), and Andrés Galarraga^[11] (2,003) are the only other hitters to strike out over 2,000 times.

Key

Rank	Rank amongst leaders in career strikeouts. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player (2024 Ks)	Number of strikeouts during the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
K	Total career strikeouts.
*	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold	Denotes active player.^{[note 1]}

List

Stats updated as of July 4, 2024.

Rank	Player (2024 Ks)	K
1	Reggie Jackson*	2,597
2	Jim Thome*	2,548
3	Adam Dunn	2,379
4	Sammy Sosa	2,306
5	Alex Rodriguez	2,287
6	Miguel Cabrera	2,105
7	Andrés Galarraga	2,003
8	Justin Upton	1,971
9	Jose Canseco	1,942
10	Willie Stargell*	1,936
11	Mark Reynolds	1,927
12	Nelson Cruz	1,916
	Curtis Granderson	1,916
14	Giancarlo Stanton (90)	1,910
15	Mike Cameron	1,901
16	Mike Schmidt*	1,883
17	Fred McGriff*	1,882
18	Tony Pérez*	1,867
19	Chris Davis	1,852
20	Ryan Howard	1,843
21	Bobby Abreu	1,840
	Derek Jeter*	1,840
23	Dave Kingman	1,816
24	Manny Ramírez	1,813
25	Paul Goldschmidt (105)	1,811
26	Alfonso Soriano	1,803
27	Carlos Beltrán	1,795
28	Ken Griffey Jr.*	1,779
29	Bobby Bonds	1,757
30	Craig Biggio*	1,753
31	David Ortiz*	1,750
32	Andruw Jones	1,748
	Dale Murphy	1,748
34	Carlos Delgado	1,745
35	Torii Hunter	1,741
36	Adrián Beltré*	1,732
37	Lou Brock*	1,730
38	Jim Edmonds	1,729
39	Andrew McCutchen (82)	1,724
40	Mickey Mantle*	1,710
41	Harmon Killebrew*	1,699
42	Chili Davis	1,698
43	Dwight Evans	1,697
44	Evan Longoria (0)	1,696
45	Rickey Henderson*	1,694
46	Dave Winfield*	1,686
47	Matt Kemp	1,641
48	Joey Votto (0)	1,640
49	J. D. Martinez (64)	1,637
50	Derrek Lee	1,622

Rank	Player (2024 Ks)	K
51	Reggie Sanders	1,614
52	Gary Gaetti	1,602
53	Mark McGwire	1,596
54	Freddie Freeman (59)	1,594
55	Shin-Soo Choo	1,579
56	Carlos Peña	1,577
57	Jay Bruce	1,572
	Jason Giambi	1,572
59	Lee May	1,570
60	Pat Burrell	1,564
61	Melvin Upton Jr.	1,561
62	Jeff Bagwell*	1,558
63	Dick Allen	1,556
64	Ray Lankford	1,550
	Willie McCovey*	1,550
66	Barry Bonds	1,539
67	Eugenio Suárez (96)	1,538
68	Dave Parker	1,537
69	Alex Gordon	1,535
70	Frank Robinson*	1,532
71	Lance Parrish	1,527
72	Willie Mays*	1,526
	Devon White	1,526
74	Jeff Kent	1,522
75	Eddie Murray*	1,516
76	Rick Monday	1,513
	Greg Vaughn	1,513
78	Andre Dawson*	1,509
79	Tony Phillips	1,499
80	Greg Luzinski	1,495
81	Eddie Mathews*	1,487
82	Mike Trout (27)	1,485
83	Iván Rodríguez*	1,474
84	Mike Napoli	1,468
85	Bryce Harper (72)	1,467
86	Frank Howard	1,460
87	Jorge Posada	1,453
88	Jhonny Peralta	1,450
	Jayson Werth	1,450
90	Jay Bell	1,443
91	Jack Clark	1,442
	Juan Samuel	1,442
93	Harold Baines*	1,441
	Mark Teixeira	1,441
95	Mo Vaughn	1,429
96	Nick Castellanos (82)	1,427
	Jimmy Wynn	1,427
98	Edwin Encarnación	1,426
99	Jim Rice*	1,423
100	George Foster	1,419

Notes

^ A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season.

References

^ Major League Baseball (2001–2009). "Baseball Basics: Abbreviations".
^ "Reggie Jackson Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Reggie Jackson Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
^ Leavengood, Ted. "Reggie Jackson Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
^ "Career Leaders For Striking Out". Baseball Alamanc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Jim Thome Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Adam Dunn Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Sammy Sosa Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Alex Rodriguez Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Miguel Cabrera Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
^ "Andrés Galarraga Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved April 20, 2021.