Many players play some combination of sports before settling on baseball, with football and basketball being the most prominent examples. Occasionally, players are golfers or bowlers in addition to baseball players. Levi David was a champion swimmer, winning state championships in the 50-meter freestyle and winning district and regional championships in the 100-meter freestyle, in addition to being a two-year baseball letter winner while attending Waxahachie High School. He was named Texas District 10-5A MVP as a senior after hitting .410 and posting a 1.33 ERA on the mound but went undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft.
After graduating high school, David spent two years at McLennan Community College, a juco in Waco, Texas. He only pitched in one of those years, 2018, and posted an 8.35 ERA in 18.1, allowing 13 hits, walking 26, and striking out 25. After his sophomore year, David transferred to Northwestern State University. He had moderate success out of the Demons’ bullpen in 2020 prior to the NCAA cancelling the season because of COVID-19, posting a 2.57 ERA in 7.0 innings with 6 hits allowed, 8 walks, and 10 strikeouts. After playing for the Acadiana Cane Cutters in the Texas Collegiate League that summer, he returned to Northwestern in 2021 and had his best season as a professional, posting a 4.43 ERA in 61.0 innings split over 13 starts and 1 relief appearance, allowing 34 hits, walking 46, and striking out 104. His 15.3 strikeouts per nine was third not on his team, not in the Southland Conference but in all of NCAA Division I baseball.