2019 BBCOR Louisville Slugger Prime vs DeMarini CF Zen vs Easton ADV

Best of the Best – Most Expensive 2019 BBCOR Bats Head to Head

We hit the most expensive, high-end, two-piece composite BBCOR bats side by side, one after another for a week straight – The 2019 Easton ADV, 2019 Louisville Slugger Prime 919, and 2019 DeMarini CF Zen.

The new $499.99 2019 Louisville Slugger Meta Prime will not be included in this comparison because at the time of testing the Meta had not yet been released. The Prime Meta has a stiffer feel and a slightly larger barrel profile. We will review that when we get it, but after hitting the Prime 919, CF Zen, and ADV, I find it hard to believe the Meta Prime BBCOR will be noticeably better (update: it’s not better, it’s different).

Does more money mean a better bat? In some ways, yes… BUT there are amazing BBCOR bats at close to half the price of these bats we are reviewing in this post. You absolutely do not need to spend more than $229 for a good BBCOR bat, or $299 for a really good BBCOR bat. The Marucci Cat 8 BBCOR is darn close to the zip off the barrel as the Prime, ADV, and Zen. High end $450 to $500 BBCOR bats offer only very small advantages in performance and comfort. In fact, if you weren’t swinging them side by side, one after another, you’d likely not notice the difference.

I’m not here trying to waste your time. I’ll spoil it right now… The Louisville Slugger Prime 919 was the best 2019 BBCOR I hit. The Easton ADV was a VERY close second. The CF Zen was good, but had some flaws that the other two simply don’t have. Also, if you buy a bat using the links from this post, I get some spare change out of the deal, I appreciate you and hope you appreciate the info this site provides. Read on for more details…

Two-Piece Composite Bats

Without getting too technical, each of the bats reviewed today has both a composite handle and a composite barrel, and they are held together at the middle with a rubber/polymer joint system to prevent sting and vibration from reaching the batter’s hands. Why composite? Carbon fiber can be shaped and “layed up” in more ways than aluminum alloys. Bat makers can play with barrel sizes, diameters, shapes, and reinforcements in certain areas of the barrel for durability that aluminum alloys simply would be too difficult to make. Composite bats generally have larger sweet spots and more balanced swing weights. The Prime 919, Easton ADV, and CF Zen represent the best carbon fiber composite technology from each of these respected bat brands.

Swing Weight – Balanced/End Load – Barrel Profiles

All of these are considered balanced BBCOR bats, with the 2019 CF Zen being most balanced, the Easton ADV was the second most balanced, while the Prime 919 BBCOR was the least balanced of the group (just barely).

Pop, Performance, and Feel

2019 Prime 919 BBCOR – Unreal. I don’t say this lightly, but the 2019 Prime 919 might be the overall best BBCOR bat ever made. The Prime is as smooth of a bat I have ever swung. Not a shred of sting or vibration. The pop is unsurpassed. The baseball takes off from the barrel like a missile. Line drives seemed to be accelerating as they left the infield. Swinging the Prime 919 was effortless. Even as we got tired towards the end of our many sessions, a half swing would still produce a zippy line drive. The balance was my favorite overall as well. Even though the Prime has the smallest barrel profile of all, it seemed to be matched up best with my 5′ 11″, 168 lbs frame.

Easton ADV BBCOR – Also unreal. Zero negative feedback from the bat. Every hit feels like that time you hit the ball perfectly and don’t even feel it. When I first saw the Easton ADV at Easton’s headquarters in Thousand Oaks, CA, all I could think was Easton copied the Prime look and design… and that’s not a bad thing. The ADV is a substantial departure from Easton’s BBCOR bats of the past few years. Easton started from the ground up on their entire 2019 BBCOR bat lineup, and it shows. This is the best Easton BBCOR bat ever. The ADV is performance wise, without a doubt as good as the Prime 919. Easton also has made the knob out of a slightly squishy, rubbery material just soft enough to provide an extra layer of comfort on the sensitive bottom part of your hand. This is very helpful during long batting practice sessions.

DeMarini CF Zen – This one surprised us a little. The CF Zen is a good bat, don’t get us wrong. But the feel and feedback compared to the Prime and ADV were just good enough to match the other bats we tested. The Prime and ADV are so good, they make the “good” CF Zen feel bad. When connecting with the baseball, we all noticed a distinct “lag” feeling. It’s difficult to describe, but think too much flex. We also felt much more feedback in the hands upon contact from the Zen lineup. Again, not bad, but compared to the Prime, ADV, and even the Cat 8, for all but die hard DeMarini fans, we would recommend the other bats over the Zen.

MPH Data

We think the exit speed is a useful tool to help determine a bat to buy, but in reality the balance and feel of the bat to a player is more important. We have some preliminary exit speed data that shows the Prime 919 hitting the baseball hardest, but we still need to crunch more numbers to get a full picture. We’ll start posting MPH exit speeds soon. Pocket Radar has just released their Smart Coach device, and we will be replacing our older Ball Coach radar next week.

If you find our bat reviews helpful, please consider using the links in this post to make your purchase, it gives me a few extra bucks and helps me to keep providing useful and actionable bat knowledge to players, parents, and coaches (like myself).