300 strikeout club

A man wearing a navy blue baseball cap and a white and orange baseball jersey with "ASTROS" on the chest in the middle of delivering a pitch.
A man in a gray baseball uniform with "ARIZONA" on the chest, a red baseball cap, and a tan baseball glove on his right hand with "51" on its side pitches a baseball with his left hand.
Nolan Ryan (left) and Randy Johnson (right) are the only pitchers to strike out 300 or more batters in a single season six times. Ryan also holds the modern MLB record of 383 strikeouts, achieved in 1973.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 300 strikeout club is a group of pitchers who have struck out 300 or more batters in a single season. In the modern era (post-1900), 19 different pitchers have reached the 300 strikeout mark 38 times as of the 2024 MLB season.

Since 1900, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson have recorded the most 300-strikeout seasons, with six each. The highest total in a 300-strikeout season is by Ryan with 383, followed by Sandy Koufax with 382. Rube Waddell was the first pitcher to record multiple 300-strikeout seasons, with two. Koufax and Curt Schilling each recorded three 300-strikeout seasons, followed by two each by Waddell, Sam McDowell, Walter Johnson, J. R. Richard, and Pedro Martínez.[1]

In the pre-modern era, with a mound closer to home plate and constant rule changes, strikeouts were more common. Between 1880 and 1900, 23 different pitchers recorded 300 strikeouts or more 31 times.[2] Six pitchers recording multiple 300-strikeout seasons; Tim Keefe and Amos Rusie each recorded three 300-strikeout seasons; Charles Radbourn, Ed Morris, John Clarkson, and Toad Ramsey each recorded two. Matt Kilroy holds the overall single-season strikeout record with 513, the only one to strike out 500 batters in a season; five other pitchers also recorded 400 or more strikeouts in a season, four of which occurred in the 1884 season.[3]

  1. ^ "Select few have reached 300 K's in a season". MLB.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  2. ^ "Pitchers with a 300 strikeout season before 1900". StatMuse. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  3. ^ "Pitchers with a 400 strikeout season". StatMuse. Retrieved October 13, 2024.