I've been a bit more aggressive in hunting out Lv. 7 before the Sammy fight on some Squirtles (Modest's, some bad defense/HP Squirtles), and thus far I'm really liking the results. Here are some pros and cons:

Pros
- Extra Speed EV (useful 28, 29 + Rocket, 31 + Josh)
- Better Route 1 weakening (particularly for Modest) - 76% catch rate nearly every time
   - Benefits greatly when encountering both Rat and Bird before Teachy TV Guy
- More likely to escape Pikachus and speedy Weedles in Viridian Forest
- Bubble fight for Sammy (consistent 5-turn, 100% accurate move, any Crit makes it a likely 4 turn/ 3 turn fight)
   - Fighting two things before the Sammy fight + hits from catching section typically leave you anywhere from 1-2 hits from Torrent, or has you in Torrent, making the fast 4 turn fight even more likely
   - May have to YOLO a turn, but typically can leave you with decent health (at least for Liam) even without poison
   - Top End: Perfect health for Brock Gym, fast fight, less likely to use potion, no poison text in fight = blazing fast Sammy
- If you obtain 48 EXP, gets Lv. 17 for Moon Scientist (Can safely Bubble + Torrent Water Gun, avoiding disable)
- Makes skipping mart guy potion better
- Lv .11 for Brock Geo (14/16 OHKO out of Torrent)

Cons
- Can take too much damage on R1 and have to heal before Sammy
- Poison tick does 3 at 27 HP IV or higher
- Less turns to get poisoned (bad Liam and Brock fight)
- Lv. 11 for Brock Geodude (14/16 range to OHKO while not in Torrent)
- Hits Lv. 14 after Colton (before 4 Bug-Catcher)

Eventually I'll retime all of this, but currently always doing this for all Modest Squirtles. Ideally you want 7-10 (high upside) or 11-13 health (less likely to have to heal) going in. Don't go out of your way to get 7; two encounters on first pass up R1 is perfect, or if you run into a useless killable encounter on the second pass

- Poison tick text: 1.75s
- Healing Poison:   6.1s
- String Shot Turn: 6.1s (move tackle)
- P-Sting Turn:     4.45s (move tackle)
- Poison! text:     1.5s
(Just math in my head but would assume it saves ~18s on average on Sammy. 3 turn EXP fight ~16-18s, 4 turn ~21-23 )