When New York Mets second baseman Robinson Cano tore his left hamstring on Aug. 4 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the assumption is that New York's marquee offseason acquisition would miss the rest of the season.

However, Tim Healey of Newsday reports that Cano will begin a rehab assignment with the team's Single-A affiliate in Brooklyn:

Well ahead of his initial recovery schedule, second baseman Robinson Cano will begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment on Saturday, Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. Cano will join short-season Class A Brooklyn.

After taking live batting practice at Citi Field, Cano said this week that he initially was given a timetable of six to 12 weeks for rehabbing his torn left hamstring. This weekend marks four weeks since Cano was injured.

The Mets have lost six of their last seven games entering Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies, and they are now five games back of the Chicago Cubs for the second Wild Card spot in the National League.

New York acquired Cano and Edwin Diaz from the Seattle Mariners in December, but the veteran second baseman had a brutal first half. Cano slashed .240/.287/.360 with just four homers and 18 RBI, and was in fact one of the least productive hitters in the Mets lineup.

The All-Star break seemed to do Cano some good, though, and he started to get on track. In his first 21 games in the second half, Cano was slashing .289/.318/.578 with six homers, and he had tallied nine hits in the first four games of August before succumbing to injury.

Cano might be the impact bat that the Mets need to make one final playoff push in the final month.