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By Bat Digest | Last Updated August 3, 2022
The 2022 Ghost Advanced is a two-piece double barrel all, composite fastpitch bat made for the player that takes fastpitch seriously. The drop 11 and drop 10s are made for the younger player that likes bat speed and control while the drop 8 and 9 are for bigger hitters who need all the barrel they can get.
Aside from durability, the Easton Ghost Advanced is the best fastpitch bat on the planet. A quick peek at the Little League World Series of softball proves that point quickly enough. In either 2022, 2021, or 2020, this bat is at the plate as many as all other bats combined. The bat is hot out of the wrapper and, weirdly, a little too hot out of the wrapper as its notoriety for cracking in a short time is legendary. It’s a great bat if you are comfortable with the idea that it will break, but for those first 500 swings or so, the bat is an absolute monster and lets the littlest kid out there take a few balls to the woodshed.
We like the drop 11 and 10 for the smaller, younger fastpitch player who takes competitive play seriously. The bat is hot out of the wrapper, and we’d suggest you only use it for the game and find another similarly weighted bat for practice. If you are a bigger hitter then consider the drop 8 or 9. Even though it might be more difficult to swing, you’ll get more life out of the bat because more density on your bat will keep it from cracking as fast. In either case, the bat is hot from day one and has a real chance of cracking in the first several hundred hits.
3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
MOI | Tech | Drb | Flx | Prof | ReSl | PlaRa | ExVe | Relv | Dmnd |
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3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
MOI | Tech | Drb | Flx | Prof | ReSl | PlaRa | ExVe | Relv | Dmnd |
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3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
MOI | Tech | Drb | Flx | Prof | ReSl | PlaRa | ExVe | Relv | Dmnd |
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4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
MOI | Tech | Drb | Flx | Prof | ReSl | PlaRa | ExVe | Relv | Dmnd |
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There are other similar bats in the fastpitch space compared to the 2022 Ghost Advanced. None get the publicity or tracking as the Easton Ghost Advanced. But you can find a big barrel, good feel, and excellent performance in bats like DeMarini’s CF and Slugger’s Meta or LXT.
There are no worthwhile changes in the 2022 version of the Advanced compared to the 2020 or 2021 Gold versions. This bat dominates the market, and we don’t expect any changes anytime soon—although fixing the durability issue would be nice since that directly contradicts how hot it is, we have a hard time wishing it were so.
The 2023 Easton Ghost Advanced in fastpitch is a two-piece composite bat built with a double-barreled design. This double barrel design allows the outer barrel to perform well at low impact speeds while the inner barrel keeps it passing the test. This trade-off between barrels is the real key to the success of the bat, and the fact it is patented means it’s tough for other companies to reproduce.
The Advanced also uses the rubber Power Boost knob which we like as well as a big barrel and, depending on the drop, a balanced swing.
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.