One month into the major league baseball season, fans might be encouraged by the fact the Pirates are hovering around the .500 mark.

And they've done so without much offensive production from Adam LaRoche, Freddy Sanchez and Ron Paulino — guys you figure are going to hit sooner rather than later.

So, it's all good, right?

Wrong.

There are still some glaring negative numbers concerning the Pirates that might not go away.

Through last weekend, Pirates batters had walked 56 times and struck out on 172 occasions.

The club's on-base percentage stood at .296, the worst in baseball.

By comparison, Philadelphia Phillies hitters had walked 110 times. Atlanta Braves hitters had walked 105 times. Every other National League team had walked more than 60 times.

While the Pirates have struck out three times as much as they've walked, the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants are the only other National League teams with even a two-to-one ratio in that category.

You have to find ways to get runners on base. The Pirates aren't doing it, which is why they are dead last in the major leagues in runs scored.

Just look at some of the players' individual walk-strikeout numbers through late April:

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Jose Bautista: two walks, 12 strikeouts.•

Jose Castillo: no walks, six strikeouts.•

Brad Eldred: no walks, 12 strikeouts.•

Xavier Nady: one walk, 16 strikeouts.•

Ron Paulino: two walks, 15 strikeouts.•

Freddy Sanchez: three walks, 12 strikeouts.Again, it's fair to assume Sanchez's numbers will improve. He missed pretty much all of spring training and it's understandable that he's gotten off to a slow start.But even LaRoche, who leads the team with 13 walks, has also struck out 30 times.Before anyone calls for the head of hitting coach Jeff Manto, this problem is not easily correctable.The players mentioned above have a history of striking out a lot while failing to walk.Chris Duffy and Jack Wilson hit at the top of the Pirates lineup and rarely draw free passes. Duffy struck out 71 times while walking only 19 times last season.So far this year, Duffy has drawn 10 walks, so perhaps he is developing a better eye at the plate. But Wilson has never walked more than 37 times in any of his five seasons as the Pirates' starting shortstop.But Jason Bay, Eldred, LaRoche, Nady — these guys are going to strike out. It comes with the territory with them.The Pirates will improve on their .236 team batting average. They might not improve their on-base percentage enough to make it effective.This team's not going to hit a lot of home runs. And you can't get clutch hits with men on base if you don't have men on base to begin with.