List of Major League Baseball career batters faced leaders explained

In baseball statistics, Batters Faced (BF), also known as Total Batters Faced (TBF), is the number of batters who made a plate appearance before the pitcher in a game or in a season. This is a list of the top 100 leaders.

Cy Young is the all-time leader, facing 29,565 batters in his career. Young is the only player to face more than 26,000 career batters. Pud Galvin is second having faced 25,415 batters, and is the only other player to have faced more than 25,000 batters. A total of 17 players have faced over 20,000 batters in their careers, with all but two (Bobby Mathews and Roger Clemens) being in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Key

Rank	Rank amongst leaders in career batters faced. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player	Name of player.
BF	Total career batters faced. Current total in parentheses
	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
	Denotes active player

List

• Stats updated as of the end of the 2024 season.

Rank	Player (2025 BF)	BF
1	Cy Young	29,565
2	Pud Galvin	25,415
3	Walter Johnson	23,405
4	Phil Niekro	22,677
5	Nolan Ryan	22,575
6	Bobby Mathews	21,977
7	Gaylord Perry	21,953
8	Steve Carlton	21,683
9	Don Sutton	21,631
10	Warren Spahn	21,547
11	Kid Nichols	21,082
12	Tim Keefe	20,941
13	Grover Cleveland Alexander	20,893
14	Bert Blyleven	20,491
15	Greg Maddux	20,421
16	Mickey Welch	20,308
17	Roger Clemens	20,240
18	Tommy John	19,692
19	Early Wynn	19,408
20	Tony Mullane	19,407
21	Tom Seaver	19,369
22	Gus Weyhing	19,188
23	Robin Roberts	19,174
24	John Clarkson	19,146
25	Jim Kaat	19,023
26	Charles Radbourn	18,918
27	Christy Mathewson	18,913
28	Eppa Rixey	18,754
29	Tom Glavine	18,604
30	Red Ruffing	18,546
31	Ferguson Jenkins	18,400
32	Burleigh Grimes	17,974
33	Jack Powell	17,896
34	Eddie Plank	17,803
35	Ted Lyons	17,797
36	Jim McCormick	17,702
37	Frank Tanana	17,641
38	Jamie Moyer	17,356
39	Red Faber	17,104
40	Randy Johnson	17,067
41	Dennis Martínez	16,754
42	Sad Sam Jones	16,662
43	Lefty Grove	16,622
44	Bobo Newsom	16,467
45	Jack Quinn	16,356
46	Amos Rusie	16,313
47	Vic Willis	16,263
48	Bob Feller	16,180
49	Charlie Hough	16,170
50	Jack Morris	16,120

Rank	Player (2025 BF)	BF
51	Jim Palmer	16,114
52	Bob Gibson	16,068
53	Waite Hoyt	16,010
54	Jerry Koosman	15,996
55	Earl Whitehill	15,781
56	Jim Bunning	15,618
57	Jerry Reuss	15,582
58	Adonis Terry	15,413
59	Paul Derringer	15,391
60	Bob Friend	15,214
61	George Mullin	15,179
62	Joe Niekro	15,166
63	Mickey Lolich	15,140
64	Herb Pennock	15,096
65	Tommy Bond	15,082
66	CC Sabathia	14,989
67	Will White	14,951
68	Rick Reuschel	14,888
69	Mel Harder	14,861
70	Carl Hubbell	14,805
71	Jim Whitney	14,666
72	Bartolo Colón	14,655
73	Mike Mussina	14,593
74	Chick Fraser	14,553
75	Charlie Buffinton	14,465
76	Claude Osteen	14,433
77	David Wells	14,413
78	Wilbur Cooper	14,377
79	Luis Tiant	14,365
80	Clark Griffith	14,335
81	Kenny Rogers	14,280
82	John Smoltz	14,271
83	Juan Marichal	14,236
84	Hooks Dauss	14,175
85	Doyle Alexander	14,162
86	Curt Simmons	14,144
87	Joe McGinnity	14,132
88	Don Drysdale	14,097
89	Andy Pettitte	14,074
90	Catfish Hunter	14,032
91	Justin Verlander (0)	13,945
92	Tim Wakefield	13,939
93	Zack Greinke (0)	13,877
94	Billy Pierce	13,853
95	Vida Blue	13,837
	Al Orth	13,837
97	Liván Hernández	13,816
98	Jim Perry	13,732
99	Mark Buehrle	13,705
100	Silver King	13,671

References

• Baseball-Reference.com