Allow me to briefly oversimplify the current era of baseball: Try to hit the ball over the fence, and live with any ensuing failure. If you accidentally single, great, but try to hit the ball over the fence, and yes, you’ll strike out more, but you’ll also hit the ball over the fence more.
For batters, if you adjust the speed and angle of your swing, then you increase the odds that you’ll hit a home run if you can just make contact. It’s the making contact part that really ties it all together.
So you can imagine the position Jeff Samardzija is in, because he is currently incapable of getting hitters to swing and miss.