Pitcher gained weight and confidence with diet of peanut-butter sandwiches By KENT SOMERS Arizona Republic Staff If Don Pruitt ever needs to be reminded of what made him a better pitcher, all he has to do is put his tongue to the roof of his mouth and taste the remnants of peanut butter. A year ago, Pruitt was a 6-foot, 145-pound pitcher who had just completed his junior year at Thun-derbird High School. Don and his father, Dick, decided Don needed to gain weight. So Don started eating peanut butter. He had four sandwiches for breakfast, three more for lunch plus his regular meals and. snacks. At night, he prepared a huge milkshake with eggs and protein supplement added. . To keep from looking like Terry Forster, Pruitt lifted weights. He gained 40 pounds in seven months, yet his stomach has stayed within the confines of his pants. Although Pruitt, 17, played defensive end and tight end for the Chiefs' football team, his real purpose in adding the weight was to improve his pitching. The weight did add a few miles per hour to his fastball, he thinks, but maybe more importantly, it improved his confidence. He looked more like a pitcher and felt stronger. A year later, an inch taller, 55 pounds heavier and with a baseball scholarship to Glendale Community College, Pruitt is still eating peanut butter sandwiches. There is no joy in it. He goes through about a jar a week, and the smell of the stuff nauseates him. "I can't even watch him (eat them) anymore," said Don's mother, Denise. "We started hiding it under jelly," Don said. "(I see) peanut butter and I get nauseated." Pruitt doesn't really "eat" pea- t i 1 . I I Don Pruitt Eats peanut butter like medicine nut butter, he "takes" it, as if it were a pungent medicine. "The faster I get it down, the sooner I get away from it," Pruitt said. Pruitt stays with the diet, despite the sickening drudgery that comes with it. His mother would fix bacon, eggs and a stack of toast for breakfast. Pruitt eats it, and then stuffs down four peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The routine never varies. "Other parents couldn't believe how big Donnie is," said Dick Pruitt. "It took a lot of self-discipline." The added weight appeared to be especially beneficial during the first half this year's prep baseball season. Pruitt won six of his first seven decisions, and Thunderbird jumped to a 7-2 record. But the Chiefs faltered. They couldn't hit or field in the clutch and lost 10 of their last 13 games. "A couple of times we had the bases' loaded, no outs and couldn't score a run," Pruitt said. Pruitt finished the year 7-7 with a 3.73 ERA. "I thought this was going to be the year we had a chance to go to the playoffs," Pruitt said. "It was disappointing. I thought when we were 7-2 we were going to have a great year." Despite Pruitt's record, Glendale Community College baseball coach Dave Grant thought enough of him to recruit him, and Pruitt has committed to play at GCC. Pruitt is pitching in a non-pro league this summer on a team coached by Grant. He is 5-0, and until last Thursday, when he allowed four runs in four innings (he still won), he had pitched 15 consecutive scoreless innings, Pruitt said. "We knew he had a chance to help us as a sophomore," Grant said. "But he looks better now than I thought he would at this stage. He is not afraid. He will throw his' pitches in certain situations." Pruitt first came to the attention of GCC by attending a couple of camps given by pitching coach Carl Austerman. Grant and Austerman were impressed by Pruitt's ability, but he needs to improve to be successful in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference, a league dominated by hitting, said Grant. "He is awfully rough as far as delivery and windup," Grant said. "He forces the ball up there and has a tendency to over-throw. He needs to smooth things up and get more movement on the ball." Grant was also attracted to Pruitt by Pruitt's willingness to work and sacrifice. After all, what would Pruitt be without his dedication to eating peanut butter? "I'd probably be 150 pounds," he said.
