Since very early in the season, we haven't heard anything from Mets ace Noah Syndergaard on the pitcher's mound, but that's about to change. Syndergaard is taking a second minor-league rehab outing Thursday night and he's looking to return to the Mets later this month. 

Don't fret, he's not going to go crazy or anything. 

"I won't be working up to five or six innings or anything," Syndergaard told CBS Sports. "There's definitely not much time left for that. But I'm starting to get there, get out on the mound and looking to get some innings under my belt before the season ends." 

Syndergaard has been sidelined since April 30 due to a partially torn lat muscle. It was a real shame, because remember what a stupid-great start he was putting together? Through four starts, Syndergaard had a 1.73 ERA with 30 strikeouts against zero walks in 26 innings. 

Since the injury, though, we've had to deal with only seeing Syndergaard when he's feuding with Mr. Met (he stole the Phillie Phanatic's ATV before his injury, too) or shooting humorous commercials for Delta Air Lines, such as this one:

"Dealing with those kinds of programs and the kids and the videos I do are all kinds of fun," he said. "It's a great way to give back to the fans and without them we wouldn't be much of anything."

On that note, make sure to check out the Delta Dugout promotion, as there are still a few weeks left in the promotion in which fans could win a road trip package to watch their favorite team, including airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets and more.

Syndergaard was anything but quiet in baseball since arriving on the scene on the 2015. The man known as "Thor" was as exciting a pitcher as we'd seen in a while and ended up having a hand in the Mets making a run to the World Series. He followed up his strong rookie campaign by making the All-Star team and finishing eighth in Cy Young voting in 2016. He then traded zeroes with Madison Bumgarner through seven innings in the NL Wild Card Game until his team ended up losing later. 

Now with the long-term injury, Thor fans were forced to follow his off-field work, which included a cameo in HBO's mega-hit "Game of Thrones" last month ("The coolest thing was seeing the pyrotechnics and how the whole scene came about -- just to see how much, time and dedication it took to make that scene look awesome," he said). 

Soon, for Thor's fans, the wait will be over. He's determined to pitch again this season. 

"It's just to show that I can come back from that kind of injury, get back on the mound and get comfortable," Syndergaard said. "I don't want 10 months to go by where I'm not competing in a big-league baseball game because come back from that and they're a little rusty and I don't want that to happen."  

Heading to next season, might we see a different animal on the mound? 

"I think I'll be mostly the same guy," he said, but with a caveat. "I'd like to have a little more body control, as I don't necessarily have to be max effort every pitch. That way if I can work comfortably like 96 and pump it up to 100, 101 when I need to, then I think that's like adding an extra pitch to your repertoire."

Mets fans -- and any baseball fan, really -- have to be reading that like it's music to their ears. 

It's an unfortunate reality, but the human body wasn't meant to be overhand throwing a hardball 100 miles per hour over and over for three hours every five nights for six months. Everything in pitching is risky, but it always felt like Syndergaard's high-octane velocity in a starting pitcher was just asking for an injury -- even if it was simply breathtaking to watch a 100 mph heater followed by a 94 mph slider. 

He could do that, too, in case you've forgotten. In his April 20 start, Syndergaard's fastball averaged 99.76 mph and his slider averaged 93.32 mph. Again, those are averages. That's ridiculous and was probably a bit much even for a physical beast like Syndergaard. 

Instead, it sounds like he wants to work more like prime Justin Verlander. Sit mid-90s while mixing in some 97 early in the game and maybe start dialing it up to triple digits when an extra gear is needed, especially the third time through the order. That mindset with Syndergaard's talent level has the makings of a Cy Young winner. 

We'll hopefully get a glimpse at Syndergaard and his slightly-tweaked approach here in the coming weeks. Until then, keep in mind his rehab work is ramping up. In the meantime, you can always watch more of his Delta commercials.