Pitcher Stephen Fife and outfielder Jon Gaston were teammates on Borah High School's 2005 state championship baseball team. Both had the talent to play college baseball and beyond. Since then, their paths have gone in different directions, crossed again for one season in the minor leagues, and went in different directions again. We recently spoke with Paul Peterson who has been involved in the Boise baseball scene for more than 20 years. When ranking high school players Peterson said; "Jon Gaston, for my money, was as good as I have seen."
Fife played at Everett Community College in Washington before transferring to the University of Utah where he was a first team All Mountain West selection in 2008. Gaston, a power hitter, was a first team All PAC-10 selection for the Arizona Wildcats.
This past Monday night Fife started his 7th big league game for the LA Dodgers. In five and 1/3 innings he gave up one run on five hits and struck out five batters for his first Major League victory. The same night in Grand Prairie Texas, Jon Gaston went 1-3 for the Laredo Lemurs in a 2-1 win over the Grand Prairie Airhogs. Laredo is an independent league team.
In 2008 Both players had their names called in the major league baseball draft. The Boston Red Sox took Fife with their 3rd round pick. Gaston was selected by the Houston Astros in the 7th round. Both started their minor league careers in the New York Penn League and seemed to be progressing towards a major league club. Fife was a 2-time Eastern League All-star. Gaston hit 35 home runs in Lancaster (CA) during the 2009 season. By the end of 2011 both were at the AA level.
If it hadn't been for a curve ball from the baseball gods Gaston might be a lot closer to playing major league baseball right now. His numbers had dropped while playing for the Corpus Christi Hooks. He was released by the Astros organization in May of 2012. Then Gaston was diagnosed with a medical condition that causes fatigue. Once properly treated he regained his strength and energy level, but lost a year of progress in his baseball career. Without a team he took the independent league route.
Both players are putting in the work to keep their baseball dream moving forward. So while Stephen Fife is enjoying his first major league victory in Los Angeles, I am sure he is rooting for his Borah teammate to prove himself to scouts in Laredo, Texas and climb the baseball ladder again. Maybe down the road Fife and Gaston will cross paths again. This time in the big leagues.
