Time to panic?

In some minds, it is.

The Pirates’ horrid performance at the plate is nearing the end of its second full month with no signs of it ending.

The numbers are downright ugly.

• Entering this weekend’s series with the Chicago Cubs, the Pirates are averaging 2.8 runs per game.

• They’ve scored more than three runs only 16 times in 44 games.

• They’ve scored more than five runs in only three games all season.

• Five position players with more than 40 at bats are hitting under .200.

• The Pirates are hitting .217 as a team. Only the Oakland A’s (.210) have a lower average in the major leagues.

• Pirate hitters have struck out a major-league leading 376 times while walking a major-league low 92 times. The Baltimore Orioles have fanned 374 times, but have hit 69 home runs to the Pirates’ 35.

OK, can it get much worse?

It honestly can’t.

The odds say it almost has to get better.

Nate McLouth is hitting .140 with eight hits in 57 at bats. He hit 20 home runs only three years ago.

Clint Barmes is hitting .178 with 23 hits in 29 at bats. He hit 23 homers three years ago.

Casey McGehee is hitting .186 with 18 hits in 97 at bats. He hit 23 homers and collected 104 RBI just two years ago.

These guys just aren’t this bad. No team in baseball history has had five semi-regular position players — Michael McKenry (.188) and Yamaico Navarro (.182) the others — hit under .200 for an entire season.

No expansion team has even done that. It just doesn’t happen.

It’s unlikely it will happen here.

But how long do you wait?

Pirate pitching has been lights out. The team is 13-1 when leading after six innings, unbeaten when leading after seven. The Bucs’ bullpen earned run average of 2.44 is the best in the National League.

The team’s home earned run average of 2.35 is trumped only by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2.29 in all of baseball.

The National League Central is downright weak. The Cardinals are banged up and the best of the rest in that division are average at best.

Sounds crazy for a franchise riding a 19-year streak of sub-.500 baseball, but the Pirates could easily stay in the division hunt throughout the summer.

If they hit the ball a little bit.

Scoring runs at the current pace is begging for a six-game losing streak.

The Pirate brass insists there are no hitters available on the open market. That’s bunk.

There is a surplus of pitching in this organization. Go initiate a conversation.

If the Bucs are proactive — and they need to be — the future could, at long last, be now.