Tip Fairchild visited Houston last week for a doctors visit, a few bullpen sessions at the elite camp and dinner at Koby’s.

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Fairchild said he threw fastballs at about 85 miles an hour in the 10-minute, 50-pitch sessions. He said he could probably throw harder, but he tries to pitch pain-free.

“To the naked eye you wouldn’t know I was hurt,” Fairchild said. “But I know I’m still rehabbing a little longer.”
On Clemens:

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“I went over to his house Tuesday and had dinner with him,” Fairchild said….”I can’t say anything bad about him,” he said. “He’s been good to me and I’ve seen how he works out. Everybody down here is on his side.”

Where he is at in his rehab:

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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.
What to expect from him at Spring Training:

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“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.”

Hopes to be at AA this year.

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“I guess I’d tell people to wait until it’s all over and then make your judgments,” he added. “Just hear him out and see what happens.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell us how Tip is doing recovering from Tommy John surgery (although it mentions a related article that I can’t find).