We’re going position-by-position from now until the All Star Break looking at the surprises and busts and foreshadowing the rest of the season.

David Wright has recovered his power stroke

Today, let’s tackle THIRD BASEMEN.

Performing up to draft-day value: Evan Longoria, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Zimmerman, Jorge Cantu, Kevin Kouzmanoff

Surpassing draft-day value a bit: David Wright, Michael Young, Casey McGahee, Troy Glaus, Chase Headley

Best production for draft investment: Adrian Beltre, Scott Rolen, Jose Bautista

Coming up short of draft investment: Alex Rodriguez, Mark Reynolds, Chone Figgins, Aramis Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Chipper Jones, Alex Gordon

This has been a mediocre year at the third base position. As you can see above, among the 3B drafted in the first ten rounds, five have paid off so far including Wright, Longoria, Youkilis, Zimmerman, and Young. Meanwhile, five have faltered including A-Rod, Reynolds, Figgins, Aramis, and Sandoval. Basically, those drafting a top third-baseman at the start of the season had, in hindsight, a 50/50 proposition on return-of-value at the midway point.

While Beltre and Rolen are having great comeback years and Bautista has come out of nowhere, a number of the third-basemen in the middle-to-late rounds have disappointed. Chipper offers meager production in the late stages of his career, and Gordon is in the minors. Some of the late-round picks (i.e. McGahee) are doing fine but are hardly turning a tremendous amount of profit.

In short, preseason perceptions about scarcity at 3B were on target. The position hasn’t been quite as terrible as SS, but we’re guessing that many people expected more.

On the plus side, David Wright has gotten stronger and stronger as the season has gone on and is now hitting above .315 with 14 HR and 15 SB. Longoria was phenomenal in the first couple months, before fading gently, but he’s still on pace for nearly a 25-25 season. Beltre is a batting average champion contender and Youk gets on base at a phenomenal rate. Despite slowing down some, Bautista is still leading the majors with 22 HR.

On the negative side, A-Rod’s speed has disappeared and is only hitting .272. Mark Reynolds isn’t showing much speed either and is hitting just .218. Neither Aramis nor Sandoval have hit double digits in HRs yet.

A-Rod is the 8th ranked 3B on our charts at the moment, but less valuable than Brennan Boesch for the season, which should say something.

Overall, the top 15 third-basemen have averaged 13 HR, 51 RBIs, 47 R, 5 SB, and a .277 average. This aggregate group, however, includes players who probably weren’t on fantasy rosters for some of their best production. Players like Bautista and Rolen. The aggregate group also excludes players who might still be sucking airspace on rosters. Players like Aramis and Sandoval.

Going forward, things might get a little worse. The five top 3B who have posted great numbers so far are probably good bets to continue their strong campaigns. But we wouldn’t be sure about Rolen, Beltre, or Bautista, and we’re not tremendously confident that any of the disappointing players including A-Rod, Reynolds, Figgins, Aramis, or Sandoval will catch up with their lofty investments. Certainly, there’s a reasonable chance, but it’s hardly a sure-thing. On the prospect front, Brett Wallace will certainly be a hot name when he’s called up by the Blue Jays — he should still have 3B-eligibility in most leagues — and there’s a small chance that Mike Moustakas will taste the majors for the Kansas City Royals at the end of the season.

(One note: Although it might be debatable at this point, we left off those who had both 2b/3B eligibility at the beginning of the season. Those players will be covered in the 2B review.)