We spent 8 hours evaluating and researching the 2016 Louisville Slugger 916 Prime baseball bat.
Models Overview
Of those 8 hours, 5 were spent in the cage with several different hitters who play all levels of composite bat baseball. The remaining three were spent reading early online reviews of the 916 as well as exchanging several emails with Louisville Slugger's home office in an attempt to get a feel for the direction and performance of this year's Prime.
Construction & Technology
By way of construction, like the 2015 915 Prime, the 2016 916 will be a two-piece composite bat with a balanced swing weight. The transition from the composite handle and composite barrel is connected with a composite slug which stiffens the transition point. Slugger refers to this as their TRU3 connective piece and it has been working well since the 2014 Attack. By way of upgrades, the 2016 comes with a bigger barrel (12% or 27% depending on the model) and a new black and white camo lizard skin grip (1.2mm).
Performance Comparison
Versus the 2015 version of the 916 Prime, aptly named the 915 Prime, you can expect more durability and the addition of Lizard Skin grip. The 915 was Slugger's first iteration into the two piece composite space. As such, we like the 2016 Prime a bit better as they fixed the major durability issues found on year one. The 916 is a reasonable bat and, frankly, not much different than the 2019 prime 919.
Comparable Bats
Other Similar Bats are plentiful as the balanced two piece composite space is thick with options. By way of swing weight and composition the 2016 CF8 may be its closest competitor. Of course the traditional Easton MAKO might also fit the comparisons list. The 916 is different than these two in the TRU3 connective piece and the standard lizard skin grip. By our measurements, both the CF8 and Easton MAKO have slightly larger barrels than the 2016 Prime---although it is rather close.
