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By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022
This is our 2021 Easton B5 review. The B5 is a throwback BBCOR bat produced for the 2021 Season. It is a single-piece alloy using Easton’s ATAC Alloy–which is the same high-grade alloy Easton uses in other popular single-piece aluminum bats like the Easton Alpha. In fact, for all intents and purposes, the Easton B5 is the Easton Alpha XL.
What’s not to like about Bo Jackson’s college baseball bat? We love the nostalgia, no-frills, working-man, no fancy end caps or explanations about some variable wall, longitudinal groove, multi-faceted ring tech marketing jargon. It’s a bat—and the graphics say as much. It hits baseballs. Hard. If you can, you’ll like this bat. This bat’s design came before folks like us started to think that the reason you hit the ball far was because of your bat, not because of your swing. Be warned: It does swing heavy, so the 30 and 31″ don’t make a lot of sense for us. But, if you want a heavy swinging single piece alloy with a design circa 1985, this is it.
In terms of performance, the Easton B5 swings heavy. The swing weight for the 33-inch B5 is 9650. That’s 5+% higher than the ADV 360 and getting on almost 10% heavier than a bat like the META. Expect it to swing as heavy as the Meta PWR, or the Omaha in a 33-inch. (Remember, the 28 through 32-inch Omahas swing light).
| 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| MOI | Tech | Drb | Flx | Prof | ReSl | PlaRa | ExVe | Relv | Dmnd |
|---|
Heavy swinging single piece aluminum bats include those like the Warstic Gunner, Slugger Omaha in the 33 and 34-inch and Axe Elite.
There is no version of the B5 from last year. The last time Easton made a bat that looked liked this was in the 1980’s. That said, the Easton Alpha XL has the same end cap and barrel material. So, as far as we are concerned, the at is very similar to that and should be considered all but the same.
Easton’s B5 is a single-piece alloy bat made from Easton’s ATAC Alloy. The ATAC alloy is the same aluminum they’ve used in other high-end single-piece bats like the Easton Alpha XL. As well, they added some technology in the barrel to help dampen sting. The B5 is also an endloaded bat.
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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