Tip Fairchild says that his right arm feels as good as it did before he had Tommy John surgery two years ago, and he’s been pitching as well as he ever has in spring training. He even spent some time recently in the bullpen with the big leaguers.

All of the encouraging signals Fairchild received this spring got crossed late this week after the Houston Astros released the former Monmouth Academy and University of Southern Maine product.

Fairchild appears to be a numbers victim in his fifth year in the Houston organization. He turned 25 in December and the Astros, who have four right-handed pitchers ranked among the organizations top 10 prospects by Baseball America, didn’t have room for him even though he appeared to be rebounding well from a difficult 2008 campaign.

The Astros did not respond to a message left at their Houston office Saturday. Fairchild, who remains in Florida in hopes of finding a spot with another organization, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

“He’s working with his agent trying to hook up right now with somebody else,” said Bill Fairchild, Tip’s father.

A starter for much of his minor league career, Fairchild finished last season in the bullpen at Double-A Corpus Christi. He’d had little time off since the May, 2007 surgery on his right elbow, so the Astros advised him to rest his arm after the season. He didn’t throw for four months then, while finishing his business degree at USM, began his preparation for spring training by throwing at USM and Bates College around Jan. 1.

He reported to Astros minor league camp in Kissimmee, Fla., in late February feeling strong and hopeful of showing the Astros he had regained the form that helped him win 14 games in 2006, tops in their minor league system. He had his sights set on making the Triple-A roster as a reliever or staying in Corpus Christi as a starter, and appeared to making progress toward one of those goals.

“He had a great spring, better than he’s ever had. That’s the hard part,” Bill Fairchild said. “Every time I’ve talked to him, he’s had unbelievable outings. I think he was surprised by (the release), as were many of his friends. The day before he got released, he had a short outing, one inning, and threw five pitches – two ground balls and a strikeout. And he’d done that many times this spring.”

Finding work this late in the preseason could be difficult. Clubs are on the verge of finalizing their minor league rosters. If Fairchild can’t draw interest from an organization right away, he could join a team in an independent league and try to open eyes that way.

“It’s a tough time right now. Everybody’s breaking camp,” Bill Fairchild said. “What he has to do is hang in there for a few weeks and see what happens.”