SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This book won't be a bestseller. It's not available from Amazon.com. It won't turn baseball on its ear.

But the Giants believe it will help them break an embarrassing drought.

The book begins thusly: "The San Francisco Giants hitting program is designed to provide the means for each hitter within the organization to realize his potential and to develop into a productive, knowledgeable, professional hitter as quickly as possible." "Professional" is underlined.

The Giants crafted a hitting manual during the winter — a document to spell out their expectations for coaches, detail their core theories and make sure knowledge is spread consistently and evenly like black earth on a farm field.

It has 16 chapters, with titles such as "The Mental Game" and "Batting Practice Routines" and "Count Knowledge" and "Development of the Patiently Aggressive Hitting Approach." Patience certainly has been required of Giants fans. It's been 19 years since the organization last sent a homegrown player to an All-Star Game.

(Will Clark and Matt Williams represented the team in 1990.) General Manager Brian Sabean believes the drought has more to do with a lack of inventory than any flaw in the development process. For years, the Giants spent to surround Barry Bonds with stopgap veterans. If they had any money remaining for draft bonuses, they usually spent it on pitching.

"Before you can develop hitters, you've got to have them," Sabean said.

"It's tough to polish up somebody with skills who has a marginal bat."

Now Sabean has a mandate from managing partner Bill Neukom to grow the farm, along with the money to follow through. Last year's first-round pick, catcher Buster Posey, received a $6.2 million bonus - the largest up-front sum in draft history.

The Giants made a concerted effort to load up on position players with their later picks, taking three college hitters - Conor Gillaspie, Roger Kieschnick and Brandon Crawford. And they've invested another $4.65 million on Dominican teenagers Angel Villalona and Rafael Rodriguez.

Finally, they have some legitimate bats. So what now? "This is part of the 'Giants Way' you're hearing about," Manager Bruce Bochy said. "Most organizations have a manual, but with the changes on the staff the last couple years, it was time to do another one. It's not so much a specific way to hit as much as making sure we're all doing things the same way from top to bottom; that we're teaching the same things, using the same terminology and using the same drills on every level.

"It's OK for a coach to have different ideas. We just want to make sure we aren't confusing the player."

Hitting coach Carney Lansford, who returns for his second season, led the effort to craft the manual, in concert with organizational hitting coordinator Bob Mariano. The Giants hired two former big leaguers to coach at their top two minor league affiliates: Hensley Meulens at Triple-A Fresno, and Garey Ingram at Double-A Connecticut.

"Some of the biggest things we can do are the simplest," Lansford said.

"When one of your hitters gets moved, make a phone call."

Lansford pointed to the Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies as clubs with especially strong coordination in their player-development systems.

"If you wait till they get to the big leagues, it's too late," Lansford said. "We've got guys in the major leagues who don't know how to hit the ball to right field."

Giants minor leaguers don't draw walks, either. Scott McClain, a 36-year-old who spent much of last season at Triple-A Fresno, was the only player in the system to draw more than 70 walks last season. That represents a huge failure to devotees of "Moneyball," the bestselling book that detailed the A's obsession with on-base percentage.

You won't find any "Moneyball" excerpts in Lansford's manual, though. He believes strongly in a patiently aggressive approach. And so does his general manager.

"We like pitches per plate appearance and on-base percentage and all that, but you've got to learn how to hit first," Sabean said. "We don't want to teach kids how to walk. If you don't have the basic aggressiveness to swing the bat or be able to hit a fastball, you're not going to be prepared when you get something to hit. And that's really true at any level."