The baseball world hasn't seen two-time Cy Young winner and three-time World Series champion Tim Lincecum since an outing on Aug. 5, 2016. The former Giants rock star was pretty beloved throughout baseball for several years before declining and then just disappearing.

In fact, the last anyone knew about Lincecum was that we knew basically nothing. An excellent, in-depth story from back in September in the San Jose Mercury News details how "The Freak is now The Ghost."

Tuesday, though, Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino posted a picture to Instagram with the caption, "Timmy" and, yes, it was Lincecum!

timmy A post shared by Adam Ottavino (@adamottavino) on Dec 18, 2017 at 9:43pm PST

A short-haired (which isn't surprising, as he ditched the long hair a few years ago) and apparently much-more ripped version of The Freak we once knew. What's more, he appears to be in the act of throwing (or trolling us all by posing, which would be pretty funny).

It's difficult to return from an extended absence to baseball, but a player with Lincecum's pedigree, it's far from impossible. Plus, he's still 33 years old. It's not like he's 53 or something outrageous like that. I, for one, would love to see Lincecum give it another go.

UPDATE: Yep, he's getting prepped for a comeback attempt ...

That's Kyle Boddy, founder and president of Driveline Baseball with the news. Here's hoping we see Lincecum on a big-league mound at some point in 2018.