WASHINGTON — The Mets visited Walter Reed Medical Center on Tuesday and unlike last year, the two players who didn't attend — Francisco Rodriguez and Taylor Buchholz — notified the team in advance that they wouldn't arrive until Tuesday and had permission to miss it.

In total, 42 players and staff visited wounded veterans at the hospital.

A year ago, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez and Carlos Beltran upset the organization by not showing up.

GM Sandy Alderson, a former Marine, called it “sobering” to listen to the stories of wounded military personnel.

“Everybody who was here went, and it probably brought the team together a little bit,” Alderson said before the Mets faced the Nationals.

“What you see in the stories that the soldiers and Marines and Airmen tell is the importance to them of camaraderie. One can get a little better insight of what it means to be a teammate … ultimately when soldiers go to war, they do so with the people next to them most in mind and that’s sort of an ultimate motivation.”