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By Bat Digest | Last Updated August 2, 2022
The 2018 Easton Beast X is the progeny of the 2017 Easton Z-Core line of bats.
That is, the Beast X is a line of single piece aluminum bats that come in a light (speed) or heavy (loaded) swing speed. There is a subset of the Beast X that is referred to as the Hybrid, but we review that elsewhere. After extensive use with the Beast X, we put together this 2018 Easton Beast X Review.
Easton, in predictable fashion, has a whole slew of bats for every size and player. One of those, lost in the mix when first released in September of 2017, is the Easton Beast X USA Bat. To clear any confusion, this bat is not the Beast X Hybrid USA Bat, which we have great things to say about. Nor is it the Easton Beast X Hyperlite USA Bat, which we also have things to say about.
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Finding a single piece aluminum bat is as easy as going to your local big box store. In fact, most cheap bats are made just like that. But anyone who has spent time with a performance alloy bat when compared to a cheap $50 Walmart bat knows darn well that the top shelf bats are just different. The barrels are larger, the swing weight distributed perfectly.
In that high class category of single piece aluminum there are fewer options. But, for sure, there are plenty to choose from.
We would put the 2018 DeMarini One as closely related to the Z-Core Speed as any bat out there. It is a light swinging single piece aluminum bat with a good sized barrel.
Slugger also makes a single piece aluminum with a decent sized barrel called the Omaha 518. Worth considering if this is your wheelhouse.
Although a considerable name change, which makes the two bat lines almost unrecognizable, the truth is the 2017 Z-Core and the 2018 Beast X are very similar bats. Easton did upgraded some of the aluminum properties in the Beast X to add some durability. But it didn’t change the already large barrel size of the Z-Core. Nor did it affect the swing weight when comparing the Speed and XL versions of the line.
The biggest change was a redesign of the two piece connective piece, but that only affected the Hybrid versions of the Beast X/Z-Core. We will discuss that in our review of that bat.
The Beast X is a single piece aluminum bat. It is made with Easton’s most elite alloy (which is good). But, the bat runs in a number of different lengths, weights and leagues. They also have a version called the Hybrid which is a two piece bat.
In any event, make sure you know which version you are buying as plenty of bats in the market today go by the Easton Beast X.
The overall rating uses seven different weighted metrics to determine our overall score. Half of total rating comes from the player and our exit speed tests (Player Rating: 25%, Performance: 25%).The other categories are Relevance (20%), Demand (10%), Durability (10%), Resell Score (5%), and Tech Specs (5%).
*: When a bat is denoted by a star (*) it is a preliminary rating. Expect it to be updated as we learn more about the bat and gather more data.
(PlaRa) Player Rating: We measure player rating from user reviews. Those users include our own hitters that we test at the lab as well as reviews we find online.
(ExVe) Performance: Performance measures the exit speeds and distances we capture in our hitting lab with HitTrax using these bats.
(Relv) Relevance: We measure the number of sizes and the MOI of the bat. Bats with a wider range of options get a better score.
(Dmnd) Demand: Demand is measured by consumer sentiment and the buzz around the bat.
(Drb) Durability: A bat’s durability is measured by user reviews as well as feedback from manufacturers.
(ReSl) Resell Score: Based on the price the bats go for used. Higher prices mean greater user demand which means, generally, a better bat. A resell value closer to its original price means a higher score.
(Tech) Tech Specs: We rate the bat on its technological advancements from previous years and compared to the industry at large. This is our chance to reward companies who are trying to innovate.
MOI
MOI or Mass Moment of Inertia is a measurement of bat swing weight. This quantifies how difficult it is to swing a bat. The industry often refers to this as things like End Load or Balanced but those words have been overused to the point of meaninglessness. We measure the actual swing weights of each bat we test using the industry-standard pendulum period, balance point, and scale weight. You can read more about that here.
Price
The price is the original MSRP price of the bat.
Type
The types of bats are single-piece alloy (SPA), two-piece composite (TPC), single-piece composite (SPC), hybrid (Hyb.), and wood (Wood). Hybrid bats are made of composite handles and alloy barrles.
Date
The estimated date the bat began distribution.
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