Baseball is the just the worst....
If a kid is getting attention in 8th grade (which is lame by the way) he is a kid that is already a stud, comparative to those around him. Like, its not even close. If a kid is anywhere near average at that age they will get no attention. For the vast majority of kids the traditional model and time frame still holds true.
These commitments mean nothing, they are verbal only and a little exploitive of the coaches involved. If a kid doesn't develop quite as they thing, if a kid gets injured, if the coaches change, if someone better comes along in the next 4 years those offers are gone. This is just another form of coaches casting a wide net and nothing more. If this is a high profile program a kid runs the risk (a very real risk) of major disappointment having all their emotional eggs in one basket. Fast forward 3 years when the college coach won't return his emails or informs him the offer no longer stands. It would be embarrassing to me if I were in that position to offer a verbal to a kid that has not started high school yet....it just seems desperate and sort of pathetic to me. The coach is taking no risk. He is sort of putting the kid in a bad spot potentially. Really dislike this trend and, as usual, this falls on the coaches.
Baseball is full of scumbags for a lack of a better way of saying it.
If my kid was being approached by college coaches in 8th grade I would politely ask them to come back in 3 years.