Danielle from My Life, Made Possible By Pop Culture scored this awesome interview with Austin Basis, much more here.

Do you know what his name actually is and where he got this nickname??

- Well, it comes out later. It’s not like a big, crazy mystery, but when I first saw it I thought it was because he’s a nerd. I mean, he kind of reads like the [typical] nerdy sidekick, so I was like “Is he really good at Math?” ‘Cause Baze has the nickname because of his last name.
Right.
- I didn’t think it was like a name nickname, like Matt being short for Matthew. But apparently Liz Tigelaar, the executive producer who wrote the pilot and created the show, she worked on Brothers & Sisters and said in trying to think of unique names for characters, she had worked with Matthews Rhys on that show. People sometimes refer to him as Math instead of Matt, short for Matthew. So she said to me that was kind of the reasoning. And then she came up with a last name in like episode five or six. “Rogers” because I’m a teacher and kids make fun of me that I’m “Mr. Rogers.”