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By Bat Digest | Last Updated November 17, 2022
We spent 2 hours in the cage and 1 hour in the field hitting with the 2016 Louisville Slugger 716 Select. We also spent another 2 hours reading reviews from other players and deciphering message boards that discuss this bat. In that 5 hour time, we found the 716 Select to be a lighter swinging hybrid bat built hot out of the wrapper for players who consider themselves occasional power hitters and, due to it’s focused barrel, know how to hit a ball well.
The 716 has a heavy swing—so, naturally, our bigger hitters liked it. It’s a softer connection piece than in later years, but it packs a punch and is the go to bat for several collegiate level players.
We’d quickly recommend the 716 to hitters who prefer two-piece composite bats for their sting dampening, durable barrel, and hot the wrapper performance to players looking for a lighter swing but often hits for power. This bat, it should be noted, doesn’t swing as light as a 916 Prime or RBZ X3, but for a hybrid, it is the lightest you can find in BBCOR (save the possible exception of the DeMarini NVS Vexxum).
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Compared to other bats, the 716 Select is most similar to the 2016 DeMarini Voodoo Raw or the Easton Hybrid XL. However, its swing weight is lighter than both, but its barrel is smaller than both. If you’d like a lighter swing a bigger barrel, the 2016 Louisville Slugger 916 Prime may be your ticket—although it’s composite barrel will take a bit of working in. If you’d like a stiffer bat with a little more gumption, then the 516 Omaha also from slugger should be worth checking out.
Compared to last year’s 715, the 2016 comes with two upgrades in an updated color scheme and a black and white camo lizard skin grip. Otherwise, there are no notable differences. The 716 from the 715, by way of performance improvements, are identical—which is not a bad thing considering the 715 was well-received, especially at collegiate levels.
The 2016 716 Select (like the 2015 Louisville Slugger 715 Select) is a two-piece hybrid bat. Meaning, it has a composite handle and an aluminum barrel. The bat also has a composite slug that sits within the transition point of the handle and barrel. This slug both dampens sting on mishits as well as keeps the bat stiff for quality performance. Slugger refers to this as a TRU-3 connective piece since it makes the bat officially 3 pieces.
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.
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