AUBURN – He’s battling through pain, stiffness and fatigue, but the toughest thing about coming back from Tommy John surgery for Tip Fairchild has been the monotony.

“It’s been monotonous since June,” Fairchild said. “There have been points where I’ll go to the gym for two weeks and I’ll be real fired up about it and really excited to keep progressing and then there’s a week where I’ll be like ‘Can I just play a game?'”

The 24-year-old right-handed pitcher is getting closer to the day he can pitch in a game, perhaps as little as three months away.

Fairchild’s rehab since the May surgery where doctors replaced the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow with a tendon from his left arm is ahead of schedule. He has progressed from picking up a baseball for the first time in Auburn to throwing off a mound for five minutes to being on the verge of throwing a full bullpen session with all of his pitches.

“Now I’m up to eight or 10 minutes off a mound and I’m locating, inside and outside. I’ll throw three pitches to the inside, three to the outside, three to the inside, three to the outside,” he said. “Then, I’ll go from the stretch and throw three to the inside, three to the outside. I’ve started to mix in my change-up, and for the past week-and-a-half I’ve been throwing that very well. Then recently, I started spinning my breaking ball (from) a short distance and getting the feel for that back.”

“The bullpen that I threw (Wednesday), I could go out in and pitch in a rookie game and do fine. So, I feel like I’m ahead of schedule in that aspect,” he added.

Fairchild has been working out three times a week at Central Maine Conditioning Clinic in Auburn, interrupted only by monthly visits to Houston, where team medical personnel check on his progress. He will return one more time to Houston on Jan. 28, spend about a week there, then come back to Maine before he heads to an early training camp the Astros hold for their top prospects at their spring training home in Kissimmee, Fla. By then, Fairchild hopes to be able to have the feel for all of his pitches down and show the team’s coaches and instructors that he can throw a regular bullpen session, which is roughly 70 pitches in 15 minutes.

“The weird thing is, I’m going to be ahead of schedule (compared) to almost every pitcher down there,” he said. “Those guys are going to catch me faster because I’m going to be rehabbing through the whole spring training. Hopefully, by the end of (spring training), I’ll be built up to where I’m throwing five innings in a game. That’s what they’re hoping.”

If all goes well, the former Monmouth Academy and University of Southern Maine star will break camp with a team, perhaps the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, the team he was with when he got hurt. If not, he’ll stay in Florida for extended spring training or do a rehab tour with Houston’s Single-A affiliates until he’s ready to go. Regardless of where he pitches this summer, his coaches will be watching him closely to make sure he isn’t overworked.

Fairchild said during his last trip to Houston, he received some valuable advice from Astros starter Brandon Backe, who underwent Tommy John surgery in late in the 2006 season and returned late last season to start five games.

“He said the year after you have it, you’re not trying to make a name for yourself again. You’re trying to get as good as you can get so next year, you’re in the big leagues,” Fairchild said. “That’s the goal. Every outing is going to be a battle. You just fight through it and learn how to pitch again. I thought that was some good advice that he gave me.”