The thing is... you don't want the grapple. You can only throw enemies this way. They'll stand up with regenerated stability. So it's a waste of time to even try. Well, if you're much stronger, maybe you can make them use up all the stamina in process and keep yours, but it's still something very tricky.
Grappling is cool for screwing people. Or getting them to screw you. But, still... You'll only need 5 STR for that I suppose. And it can be achieved when maxing out something else, too, you just need bonus points + levels so your essential stats would be enough.
But you're not the first who's telling me that Strength is the stat they prefer to max out.