I think this is standard at most D1 programs and there is a warning to the player/parent here. Committing before your junior year is too early for players.
The schools that are willing to commit rising 9th graders only see you as a commodity. There are other schools that wait to commit only rising juniors and seniors after you have more fully matured and have chance to visit the campus, talk to coaches, players, see the facilities - things you can only legitimately do after 9/1 of your junior year as of 2018. These schools also only see you as a commodity.
Recognize that you as a player are willing to trade your college social life, free-time, and potentially (but hopefully not) grades for an opportunity to play ball. But the coaches feed their families, pay for their homes, cars, etc. based on your productivity on the field, not in the classroom. I can't imagine my income and job security depended on the success of 18-22 year young men.
So your best option as a player is waiting to a reasonable point in time to commit after you have properly vetted schools, not after they have vetted you. There will always be lucky individuals that commit early and everything pans out at their dream D1 program. There are far more that commit early and make a mistake. I recently read an article that cited over 1500 D1 baseball players that have entered the transfer portal. This was heavily waited toward the SEC and ACC. This summer I saw headline after headline about former recruits leaving South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy, Auburn, LSU, etc. in droves. Heck, schools like Vandy, Arkansas, Geargia Tech, Florida are committing an average of 17-20+ players every year for a 35 man roster.
Doing baseball math at Arizona: Total Number of 2016-2018 HS commits = 39, but the total left on the roster from those years =21. This is pretty standard.
Knowing where you are physically your rising junior or senior year, what program/college suits you, and then committing is the way to go. This gives YOU the best chance for success.