In a mid-week special report, BHQ minor-league analysts Jeremy Deloney and Rob Gordon provide detailed scouting reports for the U.S. and World squads at the 2012 Futures Game in Kansas City on July 8.

As we near the 2012 All-Star break, we take another look around the minors to see who is hot and who is not. One noteworthy development to keep an eye on is the continued impact of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Because the new CBA established more rigid bonuses and moved up the signing deadline from August 15 to July 13, we have already seen some of the top picks sign and start their professional careers.

As the 2012 minor league season nears the All-Star break for most leagues, we can look back at the preseason Top 100 prospect list and make adjustments. Several players on that list have already reached the majors this season while others are years away from making contributions. Other top prospects are on the cusp of adding value to their respective big league clubs—some may be September call-ups whereas others could get the call any day.

The College World Series began Friday, and there will be no shortage of storylines in 2012. You just might even find a handful of future major-leaguers...

With the 2012 draft in the books, we take a look back. Not surprisingly, there were several high profile prospects, particularly projectable high school pitchers, who slipped due to concerns about signability. Unlike in previous drafts, many of those players will be very difficult to sign.

With the 2012 amateur player draft under way, we take a look at each player taken in the first round, with a special eye to the surprises and which players have the quickest path to the majors.

This week we take another tour around the minors to look at who's hot, who's not, who is having a breakout and who is about to break down. We've passed the one-third (50-game) mark for the 2012 season so most position players have logged 200+ AB, and most starters have 11 or 12 starts.

The 2012 first year player draft will take place between June 4th and June 6th and will likely vary from previous drafts for several important reasons. The 2011 draft was a historically deep draft, with solid college and high school position players, and a deep class of high-upside pitching prospects. The 2012 draft class is weaker at many positions...

This week we take another tour around the minors to look at who's hot, who's not, who's on the DL, and which players are on the verge of being promoted. In the past couple of weeks a number of high profile prospects have been moved up and that trend will likely continue as we move into late May and early June.

This week we take another tour around the minors to look at who's hot, who's not, who's on the DL, and who is on the brink of having a true breakout. The early promotion of top prospect Bryce Harper (OF, WAS) continues to be the story of the year at the minor league level. With teams increasingly willing to sign young players to long-term contracts prior to free-agency—effectively buying out their arbitration eligible years—it will be interesting to see if other teams follow the Nationals lead and promote their top prospects ahead of the Super Two arbitration deadline.

This week we take another tour around the minors to see who's hot, who's not, who's hurt, and who's in the midst of a breakout. While the 2012 season is still in its infancy and sample sizes are small, we are getting to the point where we can start drawing some conclusions. Certainly the recent promotions of Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Will Middlebrooks indicates that teams have seen enough to start making promotions and roster changes.