Laravel Validation - Exception: "Given Data was Invalid"

I have a simple controller, Laravel 5.5, with some basic validation but when I enter invalid data, I submit the form and get a "ValidationException: The given data was invalid".

The framework is supposed to redirect me to the form with error messages, but I end up on the big red exception page.

Why would this be?

/**
 * Store blog comment
 */
public function store(Request $request)
{
    try {
        $blogPost = BlogPost::where('id', '=', $request->blog_post_id)->get()->first();
        if (!$blogPost) {
            abort(404);
        }

        $validatedData = $this->validate($request, [
            'blog_post_id' => 'required|numeric',
            'blog_comment' => 'required|min:3',
            'blog_comment_name' => 'required|min:3',
            'blog_comment_company' => 'nullable'
        ]);

Here is the controller that is sending me back to the exception page.

via Chebli Mohamed