A look at the top 30, also broken down into tiers:

The addition of a few multi-position players, a handful of youngsters and one new superstar has added enough depth to make third base only behind first base for quality options.

Kevin Youkilis is moving over from first, Chone Figgins is moving back from second and Jose Lopez gained eligibility last season. No longer prospects, the foursome of Pedro Alvarez, Chris Johnson, David Freese and Danny Valencia will make some noise this year. More help is on the way in top prospects Mike Moustakas of the Royals, Brent Morel of the White Sox and Lonnie Chisenhall of the Indians. Jose Bautista burst upon the scene with an out-of-nowhere 54 homers and 124 RBIs last season, now everyone’s curious to see what the 30-year-old can do for an encore.

The top of the rankings have seen some changes, with Alex Rodriguez slipping below Evan Longoria, David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman, in that order.

There are some solid options as you get deep into the list, including brittle old guys like Scott Rolen and Chipper Jones, but not a lot of high upside.

There’s a seven-man second tier if you don’t get Longoria or Wright, and the five players in the third tier are all capable of moving up, so you can probably wait and grab a Pablo Sandoval or Mark Reynolds and use your earlier picks on the thinner positions.

The fifth in the Rotoace.com series of fantasy baseball position rankings is third basemen, so let’s look at how they all fit together and where you might find some potential bargains or pitfalls in your fantasy baseball draft or auction.

2011 Fantasy Baseball Third Baseman Rankings and Projections

Overrated

Casey McGehee (ADP #11, RotoAce #14) was one of biggest whiffs last season, when we called him vastly overrated and he went out and put up 104 RBIs. Oops. Instead of maybe learning our lesson, we’re going to stick to our guns and say don’t pay for all those RBIs. McGehee doesn’t score a lot of runs and has no speed, so he needs a little more power or average to stay in the top 12. While we don’t think he’ll completely flop like we were projecting last year, just a slight dip will make him poor value for where he’ll go in drafts.

Chone Figgins (ADP #14, RotoAce #17) bombed in his first season with Seattle, seeing his runs slip from 114 in 2009 to just 62 last season. Figgins still managed to repeat his 42 steals, but in the Mariners’ low-scoring offense, that’s about all Figgins offers. Since he qualifies at second, Figgins would make a good multi-position speed option off your bench, but he’ll likely be starting for someone else before you get a chance to make him a backup.

Placido Polanco (ADP #17, RotoAce #26) is an aging one-category player that you don’t even want to have to use off your bench. Now 35 years old, the average should stay below .300 and the only thing keeping him from being a fantasy afterthought is that he’s still penciled into the No. 2 spot in the Phillies offense. With just a .334 OBP over the past two seasons, Polanco belongs more in the No. 8 spot, but his runs total will continue to be propped up as long as Charlie Manuel keeps putting him there.

Underrated

Mark Reynolds (ADP #15, RotoAce #11) had a Murphy’s Law season, battling nagging injuries and a rising strikeout rate to turn in a sub-Mendoza .198 average. Reynolds still managed 32 homers and the average should rise as his BABIP gets back to where it usually is – last year it dipped to .257 after never having been below .323 in his pro career, including the minors. After suffering a concussion from a beanball on Aug. 3, Reynolds looked to be in a fog and hit just .140 the rest of the way. Reynolds was traded from Arizona (with the 12^th-easiest park to homer in) to Baltimore (5^th easiest in 2010), where he’ll be surrounded by a better overall lineup. Let everyone else be scared off by the .198 average and draft confidently that his numbers will look more like his breakout in 2009 – remember that .260-98-44-102-24 line? We’ve conservatively got him at .238-84-35-91-11, but that would great value for the 13^th round where he’s going on average.

Edwin Encarnacion (ADP #23, RotoAce #16) keeps showing signs of a power breakout, but injuries and slumps have kept him from breaking even 400 PAs since his 26-homer 2008 season. He managed 21 homers last season despite playing in only 96 games, so a breakout is possible if the Blue Jays find enough ABs for the 28-year-old. Encarnacion’s defense is so poor at third that he’ll probably get most of his ABs at DH this year. If you’re looking for a possible 30-homer guy late in your draft, give Encarnacion a try.

Chris Johnson (ADP #28, RotoAce #20) made the Astros by leading the Grapefruit League in home runs last spring, but was sent down two weeks later. When he returned on June 22, Johnson went on a tear for over two months, hitting .339 in his next 59 games before cooling off in the final month. There’s some power potential here and Johnson should provide solid overall numbers, so he is a nice high-ceiling option to stash on your bench.