Gerrit Cole: Strike Out King?

Top 25 Strike Out (SO) totals since 1901:

Rk	Player	SO	SO9	IP	BB	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	H	R	ER	ERA	FIP	K%	BB%	ERA+	BAbip	HR	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	WP	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Pit	Str
1	Nolan Ryan	383	10.57	326.0	162	1973	26	CAL	AL	41	39	26	4	2	21	16	.568	1	238	113	104	2.87	2.49	28.3%	12.0%	123	.283	18	1355	1172	53	5	2	7	7	7	24	37	10	4	0	15	.203	.302	.303	.605	78
2	Sandy Koufax	382	10.24	335.2	71	1965	29	LAD	NL	43	41	27	8	2	26	8	.765	2	216	90	76	2.04	1.93	29.5%	5.5%	160	.238	26	1297	1205	29	7	4	5	13	3	13	16	4	1	0	11	.179	.227	.280	.507	52
3	Randy Johnson	372	13.41	249.2	71	2001	37	ARI	NL	35	34	3	2	1	21	6	.778	0	181	74	69	2.49	2.13	37.4%	7.1%	188	.321	19	994	890	33	2	2	18	10	5	17	19	15	4	1	8	.203	.274	.309	.583	50	4076	2638
4	Nolan Ryan	367	9.93	332.2	202	1974	27	CAL	AL	42	41	26	3	1	22	16	.579	0	221	127	107	2.89	2.98	26.4%	14.5%	118	.259	18	1392	1165	38	6	3	9	12	4	24	28	21	3	0	9	.190	.313	.279	.592	76
5	Randy Johnson	364	12.06	271.2	70	1999	35	ARI	NL	35	35	12	2	0	17	9	.654	0	207	86	75	2.48	2.76	33.7%	6.5%	184	.294	30	1079	993	28	4	3	9	4	3	14	42	17	5	2	4	.208	.266	.335	.601	55
6	Rube Waddell	349	8.20	383.0	91	1904	27	PHA	AL	46	46	39	8	0	25	19	.568	0	307	109	69	1.62	1.59	23.3%	6.1%	165	undef	5	1496					14							0	8	undef	undef	undef
7	Bob Feller	348	8.43	371.1	153	1946	27	CLE	AL	48	42	36	10	5	26	15	.634	4	277	101	90	2.18	2.16	23.0%	10.1%	151	.274	11	1512	1331	34	8	0	3	25	0	16	16	11	2	0	3	.208	.291	.270	.562	67
8	Randy Johnson	347	12.56	248.2	76	2000	36	ARI	NL	35	35	8	3	0	19	7	.731	0	202	89	73	2.64	2.53	34.7%	7.6%	181	.335	23	1001	900	45	2	1	6	14	5	15	26	16	6	2	5	.224	.288	.356	.643	63	4019	2594
9	Nolan Ryan	341	10.26	299.0	204	1977	30	CAL	AL	37	37	22	4	0	19	16	.543	0	198	110	92	2.77	3.12	26.8%	16.0%	141	.272	12	1272	1027	23	3	7	9	22	10	21	43	19	7	3	21	.193	.329	.256	.585	64
10	Randy Johnson	334	11.56	260.0	71	2002	38	ARI	NL	35	35	8	4	0	24	5	.828	0	197	78	67	2.32	2.66	32.3%	6.9%	195	.291	26	1035	945	42	5	1	13	4	2	19	19	15	3	2	3	.208	.273	.346	.619	59	3988	2619
11	Randy Johnson	329	12.12	244.1	86	1998	34	TOT	ML	34	34	10	6	0	19	11	.633	0	203	102	89	3.28	2.90	32.5%	8.5%	135	.323	23	1014	907	38	1	1	14	5	2	13	31	19	3	2	7	.224	.300	.344	.644	71
12	Nolan Ryan	329	10.43	284.0	157	1972	25	CAL	AL	39	39	20	9	0	19	16	.543	0	166	80	72	2.28	2.49	28.5%	13.6%	128	.240	14	1154	973	25	3	4	10	11	3	17	40	9	1	0	18	.171	.291	.246	.537	70
13	Nolan Ryan	327	10.35	284.1	183	1976	29	CAL	AL	39	39	21	7	0	17	18	.486	0	193	117	106	3.36	2.91	27.3%	15.3%	99	.275	13	1196	990	33	8	2	5	13	4	12	44	23	6	2	5	.195	.322	.284	.606	84
14	Gerrit Cole	326	13.82	212.1	48	2019	28	HOU	AL	33	33	0	0	0	20	5	.800	0	142	66	59	2.50	2.64	39.9%	5.9%	185	.276	29	817	762	30	1	0	3	1	3	7	11	5	0	3	4	.186	.237	.343	.579	49	3362	2254
15	Sam McDowell	325	10.71	273.0	132	1965	22	CLE	AL	42	35	14	3	5	17	11	.607	4	178	80	66	2.18	2.08	29.1%	11.8%	161	.268	9	1116	963	30	0	7	6	13	2	23	4	9	2	0	17	.185	.286	.244	.531	56
16	Curt Schilling	319	11.29	254.1	58	1997	30	PHI	NL	35	35	7	2	0	17	11	.607	0	208	96	84	2.97	2.62	31.6%	5.8%	143	.308	25	1009	930	49	7	3	5	8	8	16	9	9	3	1	5	.224	.271	.372	.643	71
17	Sandy Koufax	317	8.83	323.0	77	1966	30	LAD	NL	41	41	27	5	0	27	9	.750	0	241	74	62	1.73	2.07	24.9%	6.0%	190	.261	19	1274	1178	38	5	4	0	11	8	13	13	5	1	0	7	.205	.252	.294	.545	62
18	Curt Schilling	316	10.97	259.1	33	2002	35	ARI	NL	36	35	5	1	0	23	7	.767	0	218	95	93	3.23	2.40	31.1%	3.2%	140	.300	29	1017	974	32	8	1	3	5	2	11	9	6	0	0	6	.224	.251	.362	.613	57	3721	2630
19	Pedro Martinez	313	13.20	213.1	37	1999	27	BOS	AL	31	29	5	1	1	23	4	.852	0	160	56	49	2.07	1.39	37.5%	4.4%	243	.325	9	835	780	38	0	1	9	3	6	11	21	10	0	0	6	.205	.248	.288	.536	35
20	J.R. Richard	313	9.64	292.1	98	1979	29	HOU	NL	38	38	19	4	0	18	13	.581	0	220	98	88	2.71	2.21	26.6%	8.3%	130	.282	13	1175	1051	38	7	5	3	14	8	17	28	10	1	1	19	.209	.277	.296	.573	65
21	Walter Johnson	313	7.61	370.0	76	1910	22	WSH	AL	45	42	38	8	3	25	17	.595	1	262	92	56	1.36	1.38	22.9%	5.6%	183	undef	1	1367					13							0	21	undef	undef	undef
22	Steve Carlton	310	8.06	346.1	87	1972	27	PHI	NL	41	41	30	8	0	27	10	.730	0	257	84	76	1.97	2.01	23.0%	6.4%	182	.259	17	1351	1244	44	5	8	1	9	9	23	22	12	5	2	8	.207	.257	.291	.548	60
23	Chris Sale	308	12.93	214.1	43	2017	28	BOS	AL	32	32	1	0	0	17	8	.680	0	165	73	69	2.90	2.45	36.2%	5.1%	157	.303	24	851	794	34	3	0	8	2	4	11	10	2	0	0	3	.208	.254	.349	.603	56	3428	2343
24	Randy Johnson	308	10.86	255.1	99	1993	29	SEA	AL	35	34	10	3	1	19	8	.704	1	185	97	92	3.24	3.05	29.5%	9.5%	135	.276	22	1043	913	37	3	1	16	8	7	16	28	12	2	2	8	.203	.290	.322	.612	64
25	Mickey Lolich	308	7.37	376.0	92	1971	30	DET	AL	45	45	29	4	0	25	14	.641	0	336	133	122	2.92	2.85	20.0%	6.0%	124	.277	36	1538	1415	49	8	2	7	12	12	22	18	10	2	0	7	.237	.285	.360	.645	84

Gerrit Cole is number 14. Like recent posts looking at Home Run rates, not just totals, ... Cole leads this group in SO9 (SO per 9 innings) with 13.82. 17 of the 25 pitchers have SO9 at least 10.

Designated hitter (DH) started in the American League (AL) in 1973.

Inter-league play started in 1997.

10 of the 25 pitched only in the National League (NL), which means pitchers bat ... and strike out. Koufax, Richard and Carlton before inter-league play, so no DH at all, only some pinch hitters. Randy Johnson four times and Schilling twice in NL but with inter-league play.

AL before DH started in 1973: Waddell, Walter Johnson, Feller, Ryan once, McDowell, Lolich.

Ryan's other four times and Randy Johnson once were AL with DH but before inter-league play (1973-1996).

Martinez, Sale and Cole in AL with DH but with inter-league play.

Cole, of course, got the SO9 record for this group during the 2019 season when there were more SO than ever. 2008 through 2019 for combined AL and NL stats, a new SO per game record has been set each year, reaching 8 per team per game in 2016.
2016 8.03
2017 8.25
2018 8.48
2019 8.81

1904 3.72 (Rube Waddell 349 SO, 8.20 SO9)
1910 3.88 (Walter Johnson 313 SO, 7.61 SO9)

Cole had the fewest innings, Waddell the most.