Go ahead and underestimate Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Jason Kanzler. He’s used to it. Having to show people they’re wrong about him is nothing new.

”I think I’ve done that my whole life, pretty much,” Kanzler said. “I was never really at the top on anyone’s priority list. I wasn’t recruited out of high school. I tried to walk on at Northeastern University and I was cut after two weeks.”

Even after the Minnesota Twins made Kanzler their 20th-round draft pick in 2013, he’s had doubters.

Kanzler wasn’t just one of the final players cut from the Kernels roster in the final days of spring training this past March, ”I was the last guy,” he said.

And he said it without a trace of a smile.

“I was angry, I was really angry,” he admitted. “The coaches down in extended (spring training) told me to cool it and I’ll get my chance eventually.”

“Eventually” didn’t turn out to take very long.

When Kernels outfielder Zack Granite was injured just four games into the season, Kanzler got the call to Cedar Rapids. Granite rejoined the Kernels Friday, but it wasn’t Kanzler’s spot he took back (the Kernels released Ivory Thomas to make room for Granite).

Kanzler carried a .291 batting average into Friday night’s game to go with an .804 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). He has five doubles and five triples and hit his seventh round-tripper Friday, a solo shot to the opposite field in the fourth inning to give the Kernels a 3-2 lead.

Kanzler’s home run was not enough as the Burlington Bees topped Cedar Rapids, 6-5, in front of 3,506 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Kanzler was utilized as a top-of-the order hitter when he first arrived in Cedar Rapids, but the power he’s demonstrated has resulted in a move toward the middle of the lineup.

The pop in his bat may have surprised others, but not Kanzler. “I knew I had it. I think it makes me even more mad that no one else really knew,” he said.

Kanzler has let his play convince others he’s more than just a defensive specialist.

“I guess I could show it off in BP a little bit,” he said, “but they kind of figured I was just a speed guy with good defense and once you get pigeon-holed it’s hard to kind of climb your way out.”

Kernels hitting coach Tommy Watkins knows Kanzler has a bit of a chip on his shoulder and that the player uses it to his advantage.

“I think that’s one thing that motivated him, being the last guy left off the team,” Watkins said. “From talking to him since he’s been here and in spring training, I think he’s been a guy that people have always told him he couldn’t do it, so he set himself out to prove everybody wrong.

“If you tell him he can’t do it, he’s going to work 10 times harder to prove you wrong.”

The Kernels held a 5-4 lead through five innings Friday, but could not hold on.

Mitch Garver extended his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 22 with a first-inning RBI single.

Ryan Walker and Tanner Vavra each had two hits for the locals.

Kernels starter Lewis Thorpe lasted four innings in his second start since being promoted from extended spring training. He gave up two runs on three hits, walked four and struck out one.

Jared Wilson and Chris Mazza (0-2), in relief of Thorpe, each gave up a pair of runs. Todd Van Steensel retired all six hitters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings, striking out three and not allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield.

The Bees’ win clinched a Midwest League Western Division postseason spot awarded to the second-place team in the first half of the league’s season. Burlington (37-30) and Cedar Rapids (30-38) meet Saturday at 5:05 p.m. at the stadium.

BURLINGTON (6): Eaves, 2b, 5 1 1 0, Hinshaw, cf, 4 1 1 0, Fish, lf, 5 1 2 2, Aguilera, 1b, 5 2 2 2, Bayardi, dh, 4 0 0 0, Cayones, rf, 2 0 0 0, Dalton, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Moye, c, 3 0 0 0, Salcedo, ss, 2 1 1 1. Totals 33 6 7 6.

KERNELS (5): Walker, 2b, 5 2 2 0, Vielma, ss, 4 0 1 0, Christensen, 1b, 5 0 0 1, Garver, c, 4 1 1 1, Haar, 3b, 3 0 1 1, Kanzler, cf, 4 1 1 1, Vavra, dh, 3 1 2 0, Licon, lf, 4 0 0 0, Murphy, rf, 3 0 1 1. Totals 35 5 9 5.

Burlington    000 222 000 - 6 7 1
Kernels        101 210 000 - 5 9 1

Sharp, Swanson (6), Loconsole (6), Busenitz (9) and Moye. Thorpe, Wilson (5), Mazza (6), Van Steensel (8) and Garver. W - Sharp (3-0). L - Mazza (0-2). S - Buzenitz (9). 2B - Hinshaw (13), Eaves (22), Fish (18), Haar (13). HR - Aguilera (8), Kanzler (7). E - Eaves (13), Haar (10). SB - Murphy (1), Vavra (3). T - 3:21. A - 3,506.