Fansler was born in 1965 to Elkins, West Virginia to Lonnis and Carol Anne Fansler. His father served in the United States Air Force and for thirty years in the United States Forest Service. Fansler was one of three brothers.
Fansler attended Elkins High School in Elkins where he played baseball and was named to the ABCA/Rawlings High School All-America Third Team in 1983.
Fansler was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft and became the first player selected from West Virginia in the second or first round of the main phase of the draft. He began his professional career in the New York–Penn League with the Watertown Pirates, accumulating an earned run average (ERA) of 8.05 in his age-18 season. In the following season in Watertown, however, he lowered that number by more than three quarters; his 2.01 ERA and 78 strikeouts both led the Pirates. Fansler moved relatively quickly through the minors. By the time he reached Triple-A with the Hawaii Islanders for the first time in 1985, he was 5.7 years younger than the average player in the Pacific Coast League.

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