Red Wings President/CEO/COO Naomi Silver released a statement on Thursday:

"We are thrilled to announce our new affiliation with the Washington Nationals. With having had only three previous Major League affiliates, this represents an historic change for the Red Wings. I think our fans will enjoy the geographic closeness of the two cities, making it easy to follow their favorite players to the Big Leagues, and it’s exciting to have this new relationship with the team from the Nation’s Capital. Even more so, this is a fine organization with great ownership and baseball operations people, and we are looking forward to working with them as we move on to the next chapter in Red Wings history. We want to thank Senator Chuck Schumer for his advocacy of the Red Wings in helping to secure this affiliation by speaking directly with the Commissioner of Baseball and the Nationals’ managing principal owner, Mark Lerner. His support has been very important to us."

Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo also released a statement on Thursday:

"We are very excited to partner with the Rochester Red Wings and to have our Triple-A affiliate back in the region.The Red Wings are a well-built, well-run organization that will be an asset to our player development system and we are proud to be a part of Rochester, New York’s rich baseball tradition that dates back to the late 1800’s.”