There are 19 pitchers who have struck out 3,000 batters in their careers. Let’s see if we can name them all. We’ll start with the ones I’m absolutely sure about.
Nolan Ryan, obviously.
Roger Clemens.
Randy Johnson. I’ve got a piece coming soon that I think you’ll like … or hate, it can go either way. And Big Unit plays a major role in it.
Tom Seaver. I’m just doing this in the order that they come to mind.
Steve Carlton. He had the all-time strikeout record for a moment.
Gaylord Perry.
Walter Johnson. The OG.
Bob Gibson.
Justin Verlander.
Max Scherzer. I remember Verlander and Scherzer’s 3K moments.
Bert Blyleven. This is the trick one, right? But Blyeven had like 3,700 strikeouts if memory serves.’
Greg Maddux. And not one of those 3K strikeouts was Tony Gwynn.
Pedro Martinez. I believe he’s the only pitcher who reached 3,000 strikeouts without pitching 3,000 innings. Do I have that right? I’ll check after.
Curt Schilling. I know he has 3,000 strikeouts because I’ve written it like 500 times when talking about his Hall of Fame case. He also retired with the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in modern baseball history.
OK, those are the ones I’m absolutely sure of. So there are, what, five more?
Don Sutton. I’m pretty sure. He just pitched so many darned innings.
Phil Niekro. Same as Sutton.
Um, CC Sabathia got 3,000 strikeouts, right?
I feel like I’m missing someone obvious. Oh, wait, Fergie Jenkins has 3,000 K. Definitely. Final answer.
OK, who am I still missing? Tom Glavine? I don’t think he got to 3,000. I know Zack Greinke didn’t quite get there. I know Mike Mussina didn’t quite get there. Who am I missing? Um … OH, wait, it’s John Smoltz, right? I’m going to say John Smoltz.
Let’s see how I did … ah ha! Nailed it! Nineteen for nineteen! Well, Pedro is not the only member of the 3K club with fewer than 3,000 innings — Scherzer is on that list too. But otherwise, yep, I got all 19. Look at me!
Clayton Kershaw is trying to become pitcher No. 20 in the 3K Club.
Kershaw is 30 strikeouts shy of 3,000, and if his start on Saturday is any indication — he got beat up by the Angels for four innings, topped out at 88 mph and struck out just two — it’s going to be a slog. On the one hand, 30 strikeouts doesn’t feel like a lot, and the Dodgers certainly have the resources to give an all-time legend like Kersh however many innings it takes to get to 3K. On the other hand, we just went through this with our guy Zack; he got to 2,979 strikeouts — blackjack away from glory — and ran out of time.*
*Zack deserves just a little bit more on this topic — he has the most strikeouts of any player NOT in the 3,000-club. Greinke was purposely NOT a strikeout pitcher for much of his career. He seemed to be a leading light in the the Bull Durham “strikeouts are fascist” school of thought, especially when he was young and almost never threw max-effort fastballs.
But toward the middle of his career, he started to see the value of the whiff; in 2011, he led the league in strikeouts per nine. He ended up striking out 200 batter in a season six times, which is up there with with Koufax and Drysdale and ahead of John Smoltz, Roy Halladay, Curt Schilling and Bobby Feller. Of course, Bob would tell you — and he’d be right — that he lost four years to the war and he surely would have struck out 200 each of those four seasons.
Anyway, six 200-strikeouts seasons ie elite — only 27 pitchers have that many, and Greg Maddux only did it once in his career — and Zack had 2,809 strikeouts heading into his age 38 season. He seemed more or less assured of getting to 3,000.
But he struck out just 73 batters in 137 innings for the Royals in that age 38 season. That left him 118 Ks shy — he gave it a run in 2023. He threw just a little biit harder, and he fired his strikeout-pitch slider more than he had in years. But he ran out of juice after 142 innings and 97 strikeouts. I know he wanted to pitch some more and if I’m not mistake he still hasn’t officially retired. But it does like he will finish his career just short of 3,000.
He will absolutey get into the Hall of Fame anyway.
For most of my life, 300 wins has been the ultimate pitcher milestone. But with Justin Verlander still looking for his first victory of 2025 — he’s stuck on 262 wins — I don’t believe we’ll see another 300-game winner.
We will, however, see pitchers strike out 3,000. Here are the Top 11 active strikeout leaders after Verlander, Scherzer, and Kershaw:
Chris Sale, 2,486
Gerrit Cole, 2,251
Charlie Morton, 2,087
Yu Darvish, 2007
Aaron Nola, 1,831
Kevin Gausman, 1,811
Sonny Gray, 1,775
Patrick Corbin, 1,758
Jose Quintana, 1,751
Jacob deGrom, 1,719
Zack Wheeler, 1,705
Unless something entirely unforeseen happens, none of these pitchers will get anywhere close to 300 wins. But you have to figure that at least one or two of them will get to 3,000 strikeouts. Sale seems to be rolling along, and after this year, he should be only two seasons away. We don’t know how healthy Cole will be when he returns, but he’s got a chance. Gausman and Wheeler stand out for me. deGrom likely won’t get there because he’s running out of time — it just blows my mind that he’s turning 37 in June — but his 11 strikeouts per nine innings puts him in the upper stratosphere.
Strikeouts really are the great statistical equalizer for today’s starting pitchers. No pitcher has thrown 250 innings in a season since (get this) 2011, when Verlander did it.
But there have been 27 seasons over that time with 250-plus strikeouts.
So I do think the club will grow, and I think that 3,000 strikeouts will become the new “Do Not Pass Go” Hall of Fame benchmark for starters. It hasn’t been that even though 17 of the 19 members of the 3,000 clubs are in the Hall. Bert Blyleven, with 3,709 strikeouts, had to wait FOREVER for his ticket to get punched. Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Fergie Jenkins — none of these guys was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
*The two not in for their own reasons: Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling. Just a side note but I fully expect the President of the United States to put some muscle behind Schilling’s Hall of Fame bid in the very near future. Just remember I called it when it happens.
But I think from here on in, anyone with 3,000 strikeouts will sail into the Hall first year.
Kershaw doesn’t need 3,000 Ks to sail in; he’s already a no-doubt, perhaps-unanimous Hall of Fame choice. But I suspect 3,000 strikeouts does matter to him. I don’t think that’s the only reason he’s still trying to get outs as a shadow of his former self, but I think it’s a reason. And why not? He’s so close.
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