Masahiro Tanaka
Later, the name stuck after Masahiro Tanaka told media that that was what he called Saito during the U.S.-Japan High School Baseball Tournament that was held following the national championship. (Saito and Tanaka were both chosen to play for the Japanese team in the tournament, organized by the Japanese Educational Resource Center in conjunction with the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy.) The suffix "-chan" is often attached to names to express affection for that person in Japanese; the nickname is similar in nature to Tanaka's own nickname, .