Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke. Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Zack Greinke just fifth major league pitcher to accomplish this feat

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 5/14/23

Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke joined a very exclusive club on Saturday night when he became just the fifth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to strike out 1,000 different hitters in his career.

Greinke accomplished the feat when he struck out Milwaukee Brewers rookies Brice Turang and Joey Wiemer in the fifth inning. They represented the 999th and 1,000 different players that Greinke has struck out in his 20-year big league career.

Zack Greinke joins elite company, becoming only the fifth pitcher in AL/NL history to strike out 1,000 DIFFERENT batters! pic.twitter.com/PQ09fd1WDQ
— MLB (@MLB) May 14, 2023

The only other pitchers to accomplish that feat are Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux.

Three of the other four are already in the baseball Hall of Fame, while the fourth, Clemens, most certainly had a Hall of Fame career but never got the votes due to his connection to baseball's PED era.

Greinke has a very strong Hall of Fame argument for himself.

Along with striking out 1,000 different hitters, he has accumulated 2,914 total strikeouts for his career and barring injury should eclipse the 3,000 strikeout mark later this season.

He has also been one of the best and most efficient pitchers of this era, owning a career ERA of 3.45 and a 122 ERA+ (100 is a league average pitcher). He also owns a Cy Young Award (2009) and finished in the top-10 of the voting four other times,

He has led both the American League (2009) and National League (2015) in ERA.

The only thing his resume does not have is a World Series ring, but he pitched in two of them and owns a 1.80 ERA in three World Series games as a member of the Houston Astros.

More must-reads: