Models Overview
Construction & Technology
The 2016 Easton Z-Core Hybrid XL bat is a two-piece baseball bat built with a composite handle and aluminum barrel. It is identical to the 2016 Easton Z-Core Hybrid (no XL) but with a heavier swing weight. The aluminum barrel, like the Z-Core bats from 2015 (S2z and S3z) has a composite sleeve inside which gives it the strength and durably to be severely oversized. This is a good thing.
Like the 2015 Easton S2z and S3z, the Easton Z-Core Hybrid XL will use a spiraled carbon fiber handle design to decrease sting on mishits and add to a buttery soft swing and ping. We are not sure if this actually works, but we do find the two-piece design on most bats does indeed remove hand sting.
The swing weight of the bat measures as Easton's heaviest performance bat in 2016. This makes it very similar to the swing weight of the 2016 Voodoo Raw from Demarini, about 5% heavier than it's little brother Z-Core Hybrid and 13% heavier than the traditional Easton MAKO.
Comparable Bats
DeMarini's Voodoo Raw and Louisville Slugger's 716 Select Select both stand out as comparable bats to the 2016 Easton Hybrid XL. All three bats are two-piece hybrid bats with heavier swing weights. They also tend to be built for the heavy hitter and the collegiate player who prefers a bat with no break-in period on the barrel.
The three bats aren't exactly the same, however. Easton boasts a larger barrel size than the other two while the Voodoo boasts a serious amount of technology in the connective piece to transfer max energy to the ball. The 716 comes in slightly lighter swing weight than either.
In the end, it's hard to say you'd go wrong with either of those choices. We prefer the Voodoo on what may simply be an "institutional knowledge bias". Meaning, we simply have had a ton of experience with the Voodoo bat and this new iteration of Easton is, well, new. As well, the Hybrid XL only comes in a BBCOR version while the Voodoo and the 716 come in all types of sizes and models. That fact alone eliminates a significant amount of players.
