New York ? The New York Yankees decided to address their production problem in right field from within the organization.

The Yankees called up outfielder Juan Rivera from Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday and immediately gave him the starting job that had been shared between Shane Spencer and John Vander Wal.

Rivera batted ninth and had one hit in three at-bats Wednesday in New York’s loss to Baltimore.

“We decided to give this a try,” manager Joe Torre said. “It’s early in the season. We’ll see what happens. Because Juan was doing so well we decided we’d see what we have here first before we see what our other options are outside the organization.”

With Spencer and Vander Wal getting the bulk of the playing time, Yankees right fielders were batting .282 with just three homers and 12 RBIs into Wednesday’s game against Baltimore.

There had been speculation that the Yankees would make a run at trading for a hitter like Florida’s Cliff Floyd. For now, they will give Rivera a chance.

Rivera impressed the Yankees in spring training, going 7-for-19 for a .368 average. He kept it up in the minors, batting .328 with six homers and 33 RBIs at Columbus.

Last year, Rivera split time between Double-A Norwich and Columbus, and batted .322.

To make room on the roster for Rivera, the Yankees released outfielder Gerald Williams.