Leveret is a native of South Reward, St. Maarten. St. Maarten is the southern part of a small island a short distance east of Puerto Rico, an island that is split between the Dutch (St. Maarten) and French (St. Martin).Rene is a 21 year old prospect who was signed by Twins scout Gene Grimaldi in August, 2003. He is a 6’1, 238 pound first baseman who began his Twins career in 2004 playing for the Twins Dominican Summer League (DSL) team, where he remained for three years. He hit for a .258 Average in 2004 and .272 Average in 2005. In 2006 he was named the DSL’s Most Valuable Player after he led the league in doubles (22), ranked second in extra base hits (29), rbi (55) and hits (84). He was also third in the league in hitting (.331 Average) and slugging (.500), and was fourth with his .436 OBP.
After an excellent spring in EST, Leveret was assigned to the Elizabethton Twins for the 2007 season. He began this short season last week and in the Twins first 8 games, he had 14 hits in 34 at bats (.412 Average), 11 runs scored, 2 doubles, 3 home runs and 16 rbi.
Without doing a lot of research, I cannot say how many major league players, if any, have hailed from St. Maarten. If Leveret continues hitting like he has this past year, the Twins may have found a young prospect who may be one of the few St. Maarten natives to ever play in the major leagues.