Strikeouts per nine innings pitched

In baseball statistics, strikeouts per nine innings pitched is the mean of strikeouts by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by multiplying the number of strikeouts by nine, and dividing by the number of innings pitched.

Leaders in Major League Baseball

The all-time Major League Baseball career leader in this statistic through 2024 is Blake Snell. The only other pitchers who had averaged over 10 K/9 are: Chris Sale, Robbie Ray, Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Randy Johnson, Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole, Kerry Wood, and Pedro Martinez.
The top three during the season were Chris Sale, Sonny Gray, and Cole Ragans.
The career leader in K/9 among MLB relievers through 2020 was Aroldis Chapman, followed by Craig Kimbrel, Kenley Jansen, Rob Dibble, David Robertson, and Billy Wagner.
In 2022, Kyle Harrison led Minor League Baseball with 14.8 strikeouts per 9 innings, the highest rate for a pitcher in the minor leagues in a season dating back to 1960.

Analysis

One effect of K/9 is that it may reward or "inflate" the numbers for pitchers with high batting averages on balls in play. Two pitchers may have the same K/9 rates despite striking out a different percentage of batters since one pitcher will pitch to more batters to obtain the same cumulative number of strikeouts. For example, a pitcher who strikes out one batter in an inning, but also gives up a walk or a hit, strikes out a lower percentage of batters than a pitcher who strikes out one batter in an inning without allowing a baserunner, but both have the same K/9.