TAMPA — Andy Pettitte appreciates CC Sabathia referring to him as a Hall of Famer, which the veteran left-hander did Tuesday. With 256 wins and stellar postseason numbers, Pettitte will draw interest from Hall of Fame voters when he becomes eligible following the 2018 season.

Yet, unlike other elite players and pitchers, Pettitte said he isn’t consumed by getting voted into Cooperstown.

“It’s great that he said that, but I don’t think about it,’’ Pettitte said Wednesday morning before throwing batting practice at George M. Steinbrenner Field for the second day of a two-day stint around the team before returning to his gig as the pitching coach at Second Baptist High School in Houston.

Watching Pettitte across 18 big league seasons, he won big because he worked at the art of pitching. That it didn’t come easily for the lefty, who is 42nd on the all-time wins list, influences his idea of what a Hall of Fame career looks like.

Pettitte appeared in the Mitchell Report and admitted dabbling in performance-enhancing drugs to help rehab an arm injury, which could hurt his Cooperstown chances with some voters.

“The game is such a struggle that I don’t look at myself as a Hall of Famer,’’ Pettitte said. “The guys that I played with that are [Hall of Famers] are the most elite players in the league.’’

Two of that group — all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter — are first-ballot locks for induction when eligible.

Roger Clemens, who was Pettitte’s teammate with the Yankees and Astros and is ninth on the all-time list with 354 victories, is gaining traction with the voters, some of whom have lightened up on the PED issue. In his fifth year of eligibility, Clemens was named on 54.1 percent of the ballots this past election. You need 75 percent to be elected.

Jeff Bagwell, a former Astros teammate of Pettitte’s, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in July.

Pettitte went 19-11 with a 3.81 ERA in 44 postseason games (276 2/3 innings). The wins and innings pitched are the best in postseason history.

Still, they don’t scream Hall of Famer from inside Pettitte’s head.

“People talk about the postseason, but I was 19-11 and I don’t think that was all good,’’ Pettitte said.