Louisville Slugger Xeno or Lxt??

[crystlemc]

14u DD loves her 2012 Xeno. Has been swinging it since January 2013. In the cold, the cage, off tee. All. The. Time.. Still going strong. She is our #3 hitter with 4 HR last summer and many extra base hits.

 

[29dad]

Anyone in the greater-than-12U national TB-A scene with a clear unbiased perspective can place anything name Xeno in a sentence that claims any kind of durability. These things were dropping like flies last summer.

DD is brand loyal to the Xeno, but holy cow it was unbelievavble how many of them were taken out of play at 14U ASA/USA nationals last summer. They had this deal during pool play where a parent would get in for free if he/she did some announcing during the game, so being cheap I volunteered. Well where I did the announcing was also where the umpires would bring the confiscated bats, and you've never seen so many Xenos in your life. Literally 99% of the confiscated bats were Xenos.

Thankfully DD has never had one removed and hopefully the 2014 model holds up better than previous models. It was for durability reasons that I tried last year to get my DD to switch, but she was having none of it.

 

[spleen1015]

My DD has never swung the LXT, but she loves the Xeno. I have tried to get her to try other bats and she's not too keen on the idea. Confidence plays a big role in the batter's box, so I'm not going to mess with her.

My only knock against the Xeno is they say that you don't have to break it in, but I disagree. Both the 2013 and 2014 had a breaking in period.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

This doesn't mean anything to your DD, either, but five girls on my team now swing/own the LXT after testing all kinds of bats for several hundred swings. None swing a Xeno.

NOTE: We are sponsored by DeMarini, which makes the fact that 5 out of 12 of the girls prefer/bought the LXT that much more relevant.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

Has anyone seen any of the LS college teams in action this year? Curious what the big girls are using. We'll know soon enough once these games are on t.v.

I saw the Fresno State Bulldogs play. The team is evenly split between Xeno and LXT. However, the top power hitters all use the LXT.

 

[Jquick823]

I got my DD the LXT after trying both bats. My DD is 12 and swings 32/22 (for comparison). The Xeno is heavier upon the finish of the swing and she didn't like that. She liked the balanced feel of the LXT through the entire swing better, the pop seemed about as equal as 2 different bats could be. There were 4 girls who all agreed the Xeno was heavier after contact than the same sized LXT.

That is truly the only difference i noticed also when swinging them myself. The local D1 school swings both Xeno and LXT's, the players prefer the older blue and white Xeno that breaks over all bats but they love the LXT especially the power hitters.

 

[00fpdaddy]

Little Angels, thank you for your posts and the comparisons of your players to the bats. In your experience, even though the new bats are supposed to be hot after wrapper with no break in time, did u notice the lxt/xenos become better after bp sessions. If so, what would you estimate the number of swings it took for each bat to really open up?

 

[Little Angels Softball]

Little Angels, thank you for your posts and the comparisons of your players to the bats. In your experience, even though the new bats are supposed to be hot after wrapper with no break in time, did u notice the lxt/xenos become better after bp sessions. If so, what would you estimate the number of swings it took for each bat to really open up?

The LS bats are very hot out of the wrapper. We've had three new LXTs show up at practice within the last two weeks and each of their owners are getting better exit speeds with their brand new LXTs than they did with their previous, well-broken-in bats. Two girls went to a 32/22 LXT (one from a 32/21 CF5 and the other a 32/21 CF6) and the other went to a 32/23 LXT (from a 32/22 SRV4B). The most surprising to me is the greater exit speeds from the girl going from the -10 SRV4B, which is actually 0.4oz heavier than her new -9 LXT. I just wouldn't be afraid of having to deal with a break-in period after the results we've seen.

The longest-tenured LS bat we have is a 32/22 LXT that a girl received in early November. Our girls hit a lot in practice, with each getting in hundreds of swings every week. We almost always hit regulation softballs (we occasionally mix in TCB wiffles and TCB heavies) off a tee and with front toss and also some live pitching. This means her bat has well over a thousand balls hit .... probably closer to two thousand.

I'd like to say it is getting hotter, as her exit speeds have increased. However, there are other factors to consider:

1. The girl is 11 years old, going on 12. She has grown and there are more adult hormones going through her body than there were just a few months ago. She is now bigger and more mature.
3. We put our girls through regular strength training (one of my assistants is a personal trainer) where they use dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls and body weight to improve strength. They do this for 30 - 45 minutes every practice. The girl is unquestionably stronger than she was when she got the bat.
5. Our team hits ... a lot. We do tons of tee drills designed for each girl and loads of front toss to reinforce the muscle memory gained on the tees. We go to live pitching once the new mechanic seems ingrained. Bottom line ... this girl is simply a better hitter than she was when she got the bat. In fact, just last night, she hit the ball harder and more consistently than she ever has.

All these things make me hesitant to declare that her LXT has gotten "hotter" over time. It may have, and the eye test leads me to believe it has. Just be aware of the above when you make the judgment on my observations.

Next week I will have one of the girls who uses that older LXT (but does not own it) hit with a new one all practice. I'll measure her exit speeds and compare them. Not scientific, but if there is a difference, we should see it after a couple hundred swings.

 

[humpty]

Little angels. What do you think of the black and yellow cf6 insane? Any of your kids swing it?

 

[Little Angels Softball]

Little angels. What do you think of the black and yellow cf6 insane? Any of your kids swing it?

My 12U team is made up entirely of 11 year olds and there just isn't much demand amongst girls so young for an end-loaded bat. That being said, in my hands the Insane doesn't feel overly end loaded ... more like a bit heavier toward the barrel than the standard -10 CF6 (which is very well-balanced and swings quite light).

Our #4 hole is a big, strong girl who is an excellent hitter. She hits for high average (she is always in against quality 12U "A" pitchers) and has some pretty serious power for her age. She tried the CF6 Insane and liked it. She preferred her SRV4B, though, and stayed with it. For some reason (and this obviously may not hold true for other hitters), she had a bit of trouble hitting high pitches with it. She is not much of a high ball hitter, anyway, but seemed to struggle a bit more with the Insane than with other bats. Not sure why, but she has since gone to the LXT, which is even more "balanced" than her 4B. Perhaps the end load just didn't agree with her swing.

I will say, however, that she hit some absolute rockets with the Insane. Balls that were every bit as impressive as anything else she's hit. She just seems to prefer the feel of a more balanced bat.

We do have a couple of girls who swing it on our second-year 12U team and they are that team's best hitters. Both have monster power, too. Same goes for the best hitter on our second-year 14U team, as well.

Bottom line: It is every bit as hot as anything out there and if a girl likes it and it fits her swing, it is a great bat. GTG out of the wrapper, too.