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July 3, 2020 | by Brian Duryea | @BatDigest
After more testing than we can quantify (literally thousands of hours writing, researching and testing bats over the last 5 years), we think the Easton Ghost X is the best overall composite baseball bat on the market today. This wins in part because it is offered in every size and model known to man. You can find it in a USABat version as well as a drop 5, drop 8, drop 10 USSSA and a BBCOR, too. While other bats compete with it inside more specific categories, the Easton Ghost X is the best composite bat overall.
Composite bats in the baseball space run deep and wide. Three of our favorites in addition to the Easton Ghost X, are the Rawlings Quatro, CF Zen from DeMarini and 918 Prime from Slugger. Each of these bats run on their own merits as some of the best composite bats in the high school/BBCOR ranks.
| Image |
Bat |
Category |
Price |
Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Ghost X |
Overall |
||
 |
Quatro |
BBCOR |
||
 |
CF Zen |
BBCOR |
||
 |
918 Prime |
BBCOR |
||
 |
2017 CF Zen |
Drop 5 or 8 USSSA |
||
 |
Hex Connect |
Drop 10 USSSA |
||
 |
LXT Hyper |
Fastpitch |
||
 |
Ghost X |
USABat |
In the fastpitch space, we love the LXT from Louisville Slugger. Although it has remarkably impressive competition in the composite space (like the XENO and CF9), we think the balance, huge barrel, fantastic player feedback and numerous options make the LXT the best composite fast-pitch bat on the market today.
Read our 2018 Louisville Slugger LXT Review
Talk to anyone who has hit with the drop 5 CF Zen from 2017 and they’ll say basically one thing: it is CRAZY hot. The bat’s sweet spot is as big as it gets. And the weight distribution is seriously perfect. It is hard to find this bat in stock, but if you can, please pull the trigger. You can thank us later.
Read our 2017 DeMarini CF Zen Review
Atlhough still early in the USABat game, we feel pretty confident the Ghost X from Easton will be the best. It has, after all, a much larger barrel than any of the other competitors out there. Add in the fact it comes in more sizes and drops than any other bat, and its likely you’ll get the best USA Baseball bat in your hands with the Ghost X. We sure wish it was less expensive, though.
Read our 2018 USABat Easton Reviews
2018 Marucci Hex Connect
We like the Easton Ghost,but don’t forget the Marucci Drop 10 Hex Connect. This is often a forgotten bat in the thick realm of USSSA Bats made for the drop 10 swinger. But the barrel is gigantic, the balance is quite perfect, and the performance is as good as you could hope for. This bat, and its price point, are worth taking a chance on.
Read our 2018 Marucci Hex Connect Review
Most composite bats are built with a two piece structure. That is, they have a composite handle and a composite barrel that are connected someway or another. We refer to these bats as, no surprise, two piece bats. Other composite bats, although more rare, are made of a single piece of composite. These bats are stiffer, and in theory at least, can deliver more power to the ball (and, we should add, more shock waves to your hands).
The younger and lighter you are, the more you will prefer a two piece composite bat. Today, there are even several collegiate players still swinging a two piece composite. Few single piece composite bats even exist and their small market share might be all the info you need as to how well they are received. With that said, Combat (now defunct and owned by Easton) as well as Dirty South Bats (a small player out of Georgia) make a big barreled single piece composite bat that many people love. And if you are serious about going to the single piece composite space, we suggest you start with either of those two.
There are two major distinctions you can make from one bat to another. The first major distinction is whether the bat is made from two pieces or one. The other is whether the bat is made from aluminum or composite. We discuss this distinction some on our best aluminum bats page too.
There are several reasons some people prefer composite bats over aluminum. Close to the top of most lists is the fact that composite bat barrels are often quite a bit larger than aluminum bat barrels. This consistent feature is derived from the fact that composite material is lighter than aluminum, and less weight in the barrel means more material can be used to create a larger barrel. As well, composite bats tend to feel much softer on contact. The composite (which is ultimately a high grade plastic) can absorb more shock in the material.
There was a time when composite bats had better performance than aluminum barrels. Now, restrictions on barrels like BBCOR and USABat lend less credence to how hot composite can be compared to aluminum.
In short, a composite bat is a carbon bat whose fibers are directed to give the bat certain properties. These properties include things like durability, trampoline effect and lightness. Composite is a fancier word for plastic. Composite bats come in all shapes and sizes and tend to run more expensive than aluminum bats. They are made for baseball, fastpitch and slowpitch. Performance fastpitch and slowpitch bats are almost entirely dominated by composite bats. Some groups take a composite handle and fix it to an aluminum barrel. These bats are referred to as hybrids. They are, in effect, a half aluminum, half composite bat.