Aroldis Chapman set a very specific record on Saturday, becoming king of lefty reliever Ks.
Chapman tied Wagner’s record of 1,196 strikeouts by retiring d’Arnaud and then claimed the record by striking out Murphy. Chapman stared down Murphy as he walked away from the plate.
“For sure, I went out there knowing I was two strikeouts away from either tying the record or go ahead,” Chapman said through a translator. “Yes, I was trying to get that today.”
NYPost.com
Here is what I believe is the all-time leaderboard. The data goes back to 1920. Before 1920, both the use of relief pitchers and the number of strikeouts were low.
| PlayerID | Pitcher | Strikeouts | IP | Kper9 | First Year | Last Year |
| 10233 | Aroldis Chapman | 1197 | 727.3 | 14.8 | 2010 | 2024 |
| 578 | Billy Wagner | 1196 | 903.0 | 11.9 | 1995 | 2010 |
| 667 | Jesse Orosco | 1169 | 1276.7 | 8.2 | 1979 | 2003 |
| 1319 | Dan Plesac | 990 | 1003.0 | 8.9 | 1986 | 2003 |
| 874 | John Franco | 975 | 1245.7 | 7.0 | 1984 | 2005 |
| 102060 | Tug McGraw | 974 | 1301.3 | 6.7 | 1965 | 1984 |
| 1097 | Arthur Rhodes | 899 | 865.7 | 9.3 | 1995 | 2011 |
| 849 | Mike Stanton | 892 | 1110.0 | 7.2 | 1989 | 2007 |
| 102224 | Sparky Lyle | 873 | 1390.3 | 5.7 | 1967 | 1982 |
| 102506 | John Hiller | 831 | 963.0 | 7.8 | 1965 | 1980 |
| 100780 | Randy Myers | 829 | 814.3 | 9.2 | 1985 | 1998 |
| 100461 | Paul Assenmacher | 806 | 854.7 | 8.5 | 1986 | 1999 |
| 102126 | Dave LaRoche | 766 | 976.3 | 7.1 | 1970 | 1983 |
| 101601 | Gary Lavelle | 766 | 1077.7 | 6.4 | 1974 | 1987 |
| 101279 | Willie Hernandez | 757 | 994.3 | 6.9 | 1977 | 1989 |
| 5003 | Jake Diekman | 754 | 595.7 | 11.4 | 2012 | 2024 |
| 727 | Eddie Guardado | 738 | 819.0 | 8.1 | 1993 | 2009 |
| 6785 | Andrew Miller | 724 | 504.0 | 12.9 | 2006 | 2021 |
| 100198 | Mark Davis | 719 | 708.3 | 9.1 | 1980 | 1997 |
| 14212 | Josh Hader | 707 | 425.3 | 15.0 | 2017 | 2024 |
| 103011 | Jim Brewer | 698 | 860.7 | 7.3 | 1960 | 1976 |
| 104506 | Ron Perranoski | 685 | 1170.7 | 5.3 | 1961 | 1973 |
| 1030 | Alan Embree | 679 | 756.0 | 8.1 | 1995 | 2009 |
| 8048 | Will Smith | 672 | 543.0 | 11.1 | 2013 | 2024 |
| 100502 | Norm Charlton | 672 | 668.7 | 9.0 | 1989 | 2001 |
| 102592 | Darold Knowles | 667 | 1052.3 | 5.7 | 1965 | 1980 |
| 101680 | Terry Forster | 665 | 888.0 | 6.7 | 1971 | 1986 |
| 100812 | Dave Righetti | 658 | 827.3 | 7.2 | 1982 | 1995 |
| 100704 | Mitch Williams | 652 | 681.0 | 8.6 | 1986 | 1997 |
The first thing I noticed from this list is that Chapman actually blew away Wagner, accomplishing the record in about 176 fewer innings. Wagner had blown away Orosco in much the same way,
The second thing is that all the pitchers on the list with over 10 K per 9 IP are recent pitchers, with four of the six having performed in 2024.
To climb the list, it seems to be advantageous to pitch in relief for the Mets.
Finally, the low K-rate relievers tended to pitch a lot of innings. Ron Perranoski struck out just 5.3 batters per 9 IP, but managed to pitch 1170 2/3 innings in thirteen seasons.
Hader might be the next reliever to challenge the record.