Fleming pumped to meet, face idol Pujols

Watching Shane McClanahan pitch on Tuesday night, Josh Fleming noticed that the flame-throwing left-hander took his fastball to another level against Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. Indeed, McClanahan threw his hardest pitches of the night to Ohtani (100.6 mph), Trout (100.6) and Pujols (100.4) and later admitted to Fleming that he reached back for a little extra against the trio of Angels stars.

“As anyone would,” Fleming said. “I’m probably going to do the same tomorrow, if we’re being honest.”

Especially when the future Hall of Famer wearing No. 5 steps into the batter’s box at Angel Stadium.

Fleming is set to pitch for the Rays in their series finale against the Angels on Thursday night in Anaheim, and he’ll be amped up to face Pujols. As someone who grew up in the St. Louis area and went to countless Cardinals games as a kid, Fleming said, Pujols was his “favorite player of all time -- and he will be forever.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Fleming got a chance to meet his childhood hero. The 24-year-old Fleming chatted with the 41-year-old Pujols on the field at Angel Stadium and had Pujols sign a baseball for him. When the Angels visit Tropicana Field from June 25-27, Fleming is planning to ask Pujols to sign a jersey Fleming once wore: Pujols’ No. 5 Cardinals jersey.

“I don't want to be too much of a fanboy around him,” Fleming said. “But obviously let him know that I'm from the area and just let him know how much he meant to me growing up and everything.”

Fleming said he still has a poster of Pujols hanging in his room. One memory that stood out to him on Wednesday was attending the 2009 Home Run Derby in St. Louis, where Pujols won a swing-off to advance to the second round with his hometown crowd cheering him on.

But will Pujols still be Fleming’s favorite player if he re-creates his Home Run Derby performance in their first matchup?

“If anyone's going to take me deep, I'd be totally OK with him doing it,” Fleming said. “Not saying he will -- I'm not going to let him do that -- but if he did, I would be perfectly fine with that.”

Fleming still owns another Cardinals jersey that he’s also expecting his parents to ship his way soon, and he plans to have that one signed, too. It’s the No. 52 worn in St. Louis by Michael Wacha, now Fleming’s Tampa Bay teammate.

“Whenever Wacha gets reinstated [from the 10-day injured list] for his next start, I think I'm going to wear it to the field,” Fleming said. “I think it's going to be pretty funny.”