Top Level Baseball Academy
St. Monica’s High School and various permitted fields (UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, Clover Park, Marine Field, Memorial Park, PenMar, WLA LL, Cheviot Hills Rec. Park), 1030 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403
About
Top Level Baseball Academy offers travel ball teams, practices, scrimmages, field practices, batting cages, and a variety of training options including small group training, private training, and private lessons for hitting, pitching, and catching. Players can join open training programs and open development workouts, take part in strength and conditioning, catcher training, pitcher velo and arm care, velo workouts, bullpens, and arm care and recovery, and use video and data-driven metrics analysis for pitching and hitting. The program also runs summer camps, a Summer Pitcher’s VELO LAB, high school summer programs, summer open scrimmage games, and Summer, Thanksgiving, and Easter holiday advanced camps, along with tryouts for 2026–27 teams and other developmental training workout programs.
• Ages: 8–18 years old
• Schedule: Current schedule (as of 5/12/2026) includes tryouts for 2026–27 teams (Ages 8/9U–18U) on May 17, May 30, and June 20, and TL Summer Camps on June 22–26, July 6–10, and July 13–17.
• Price: Players at Top Level have access to Coach Zach for as little as $35 for a bullpen or velo group workout.
Top Level Baseball Academy is a full youth-to-high school baseball academy with over 20 travel teams ranging from 8/9U through high school, and has grown from 4 teams at launch in 2021 to over 20 teams and 250 players. It is the home of the Easton USSSA Elite Florida World Series Champions and offers open workouts through an à la carte menu with no monthly fee commitments, available to both Top Level travel ball team players and non-team players. Top Level uses video and data-driven metrics analysis for pitching and hitting, small training groups and reps, and high-level summer training programs like the Velo Lab, and its coaches have coached some of the top baseball players from the Westside who went on to various universities and professional opportunities.
Top Level Baseball Academy was started by co-owners Eric Beckerman and Zach Smith in the summer of 2021, after operating as LA Xtreme from 2013–2020, and has been developing players for high school and beyond since 2013. The program’s mission is for players who enjoy the training and hard work it takes to play with and against other high-level players, in an environment where players are surrounded by others who work just as hard or harder and have a drive to play at their highest possible level. The mission extends beyond baseball, focusing on future CEOs, entrepreneurs, doctors, screenwriters, and other high-level professionals developing their baseball skills to help them with playing at top academic institutions, using the lessons of baseball to prepare players for high school and beyond, emphasizing that failure is an essential part of growth, and focusing on hard work, grit, grind, and personal accountability. Unlike programs that focus on baseball only, Top Level states that it strives to help its players use the game of baseball to play at a high level in high school and potentially use baseball as a pathway to open doors at leading academic institutions, with a mission to provide players with instruction, resources, and opportunities in the sport.
Co-owner and founder Coach Eric Beckerman is the Crossroads High School Varsity Head Coach, started playing baseball at WLA Little League at age 8, was a 2-time All-League player at Palisades High School, played at the University of Arizona where he redshirted, and then transferred to the University of Wisconsin for his final collegiate baseball years. He founded and ran LA Xtreme for 8 years, brought 6 teams to Cooperstown with 3 Cooperstown championships, 1 championship runner-up, and 9th-place finishes the other two times, and his teams have won the Florida World Series, Omaha Slumpbusters World Series, and numerous Super NIT, Perfect Game, USA North Carolina, and other national invitational tournaments; his specialty is hitting, high-energy practices, and teaching baseball IQ. Co-owner and founder Coach Zach Smith is described as one of, if not the premier pitching coach in the Southern California area, played collegiate baseball at the University of Hawaii Pacific, learned pitching biomechanics by working at the Ranch in Texas, is a former pitching coach at Crossroads High School, trains alongside MLB pitching coaches, is certified in biomechanics, and is currently a pitching instructor for MLB, MiLB, high school, and elite travel ball pitchers.
Top Level Baseball Academy states that it provides the Westside with a high-level program, giving players the opportunity to develop their game and prepare for success both in high school and beyond. For sessions at St. Monica’s High School, players are instructed to bring turf or tennis shoes (no metal or rubber cleats), baseball attire such as shorts, shirt, and hat, a glove, catcher’s gear for catchers, and water.
Last updated June 25, 2026.
• Ages: 8–18 years old
• Schedule: Current schedule (as of 5/12/2026) includes tryouts for 2026–27 teams (Ages 8/9U–18U) on May 17, May 30, and June 20, and TL Summer Camps on June 22–26, July 6–10, and July 13–17.
• Price: Players at Top Level have access to Coach Zach for as little as $35 for a bullpen or velo group workout.
Top Level Baseball Academy is a full youth-to-high school baseball academy with over 20 travel teams ranging from 8/9U through high school, and has grown from 4 teams at launch in 2021 to over 20 teams and 250 players. It is the home of the Easton USSSA Elite Florida World Series Champions and offers open workouts through an à la carte menu with no monthly fee commitments, available to both Top Level travel ball team players and non-team players. Top Level uses video and data-driven metrics analysis for pitching and hitting, small training groups and reps, and high-level summer training programs like the Velo Lab, and its coaches have coached some of the top baseball players from the Westside who went on to various universities and professional opportunities.
Top Level Baseball Academy was started by co-owners Eric Beckerman and Zach Smith in the summer of 2021, after operating as LA Xtreme from 2013–2020, and has been developing players for high school and beyond since 2013. The program’s mission is for players who enjoy the training and hard work it takes to play with and against other high-level players, in an environment where players are surrounded by others who work just as hard or harder and have a drive to play at their highest possible level. The mission extends beyond baseball, focusing on future CEOs, entrepreneurs, doctors, screenwriters, and other high-level professionals developing their baseball skills to help them with playing at top academic institutions, using the lessons of baseball to prepare players for high school and beyond, emphasizing that failure is an essential part of growth, and focusing on hard work, grit, grind, and personal accountability. Unlike programs that focus on baseball only, Top Level states that it strives to help its players use the game of baseball to play at a high level in high school and potentially use baseball as a pathway to open doors at leading academic institutions, with a mission to provide players with instruction, resources, and opportunities in the sport.
Co-owner and founder Coach Eric Beckerman is the Crossroads High School Varsity Head Coach, started playing baseball at WLA Little League at age 8, was a 2-time All-League player at Palisades High School, played at the University of Arizona where he redshirted, and then transferred to the University of Wisconsin for his final collegiate baseball years. He founded and ran LA Xtreme for 8 years, brought 6 teams to Cooperstown with 3 Cooperstown championships, 1 championship runner-up, and 9th-place finishes the other two times, and his teams have won the Florida World Series, Omaha Slumpbusters World Series, and numerous Super NIT, Perfect Game, USA North Carolina, and other national invitational tournaments; his specialty is hitting, high-energy practices, and teaching baseball IQ. Co-owner and founder Coach Zach Smith is described as one of, if not the premier pitching coach in the Southern California area, played collegiate baseball at the University of Hawaii Pacific, learned pitching biomechanics by working at the Ranch in Texas, is a former pitching coach at Crossroads High School, trains alongside MLB pitching coaches, is certified in biomechanics, and is currently a pitching instructor for MLB, MiLB, high school, and elite travel ball pitchers.
Top Level Baseball Academy states that it provides the Westside with a high-level program, giving players the opportunity to develop their game and prepare for success both in high school and beyond. For sessions at St. Monica’s High School, players are instructed to bring turf or tennis shoes (no metal or rubber cleats), baseball attire such as shorts, shirt, and hat, a glove, catcher’s gear for catchers, and water.
Last updated June 25, 2026.
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